FIFA Prepares to Rule on Bin Hammam Bribery Allegations

(WFI) FIFA's ethics committee will meet to decide the fate of suspended Ex-Co member Mohamed bin Hammam on July 22 and 23 following the sensational bribery allegations that have rocked world football.

FIFA announced Wednesday that the Qatari, a former FIFA presidential candidate, and two Caribbean Football Union officials had received the report on the investigations conducted by the ethics committee since the end of May when they were provisionally banned.

They have been invited to respond to the report's findings in writing before the meeting, which will be chaired by Namibia's Petrus Damaseb.

Damaseb suspended Bin Hammam and FIFA vice-president Jack Warner on May 29 pending a full investigation of alleged violations of the FIFA Code of Ethics linked to the FIFA presidential election. The CFU officials were suspended at the same time. Hours earlier, Bin Hammam had dropped out of the FIFA presidential race.

Bin Hammam faces allegations that he paid $40,000 cash bribes to 25 Caribbean Football Union members at a May 10 and 11 meeting in Trinidad in a bid to buy him votes to aid his campaign to oust Sepp Blatter. He denies any wrongdoing.

Warner, the former CONCACAF chief, was alleged to have colluded with him in the bribery scam.

He quit FIFA after learning of the details of a leaked ethics committee report a few weeks ago which said there was "convincing and overwhelming" evidence that the pair were involved in trying to bribe CFU members.

Bin Hammam has kept a low-profile in recent weeks. But he too may quit FIFA before the July 22 hearing to protect what he has left of his tarnished credibility.

Members of the Asian Football Confederation are already jockeying for position to replace him, considering the Qatari's reign as AFC chief to be over following the cash-for-votes scandal.

For more coverage of the Bin Hammam case, visit World Football Insider.

Written by Mark Bisson