DOHA — Mohamed Bin Hammam has alleged his life ban from all football-related activity was decided before Fifa’s ethics committee heard his case.
The 62-year-old Qatari has been found guilty of attempting to bribe members of the Caribbean Football Union at a meeting on the Fifa presidential campaign trail in Trinidad in May.
Bin Hammam — who has continued to maintain his innocence — claimed the decision was an act of revenge for his standing against Sepp Blatter for the Fifa presidency.
“I was expecting it actually,” Bin Hammam said in an interview with Radio Five Live Sportsweek programme.
“The ban for life, that shows how much these people are angry, how much they are full of revenge.”
Asked if he meant revenge for standing against Blatter, he replied: “Exactly, there is nothing else.” Bin Hammam also alleged the ethics committee was not independent. He added: “The ban for life had already been written before the investigation started. These are leaking from somebody”.
Bin Hammam, who was not present at the ruling, also claimed he still does not know the allegations against him.
“My legal team were almost sure that Fifa would use my appearance for their own purposes, not for the purpose of the trial,” he added.
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“We wrote to Fifa about 10 days back asking them what the accusations against Bin Hamman were because so far there are no accusations known to us.
“Surprisingly after some days, maybe one or two days before the trial, Fifa wrote back to my lawyers, telling them you will know the accusations on the 22nd (July, last Friday). From that we knew that Fifa has already taken (the decision), they just wanted the platform to announce it.”
Asked if he knew the charges against him, Bin Hammam said: “Not at all, we asked them officially, they did not answer”
Bin Hammam revealed he would now take his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“The first step for me is the appeals committee of Fifa which is another kangaroo court,” he said on Sportsweek. — Daily Mail
