http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/dcu...2d06_story.html

ZURICH — FIFA prosecutor Michael Garcia has formally opened investigations into bribery and financial misconduct allegations against former presidential candidate Mohamed bin Hammam.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19257232


Mohamed bin Hammam intends to fight to clear his name after Fifa opened investigation proceedings against him over alleged financial mismanagement.

In a letter to AFC committee members Bin Hamman says: "My legal team has filed an immediate response to the actions of the AFC and FIFA in relation to my latest politically-motivated ban.

"I will announce further steps very shortly to challenge this clear abuse of power and process at the hand of FIFA."

A recent report from auditors PWC into the accounts of the AFC showed payments to several individuals. Bin Hammam details the reasons why the payments were made and states they were from his own accounts.

He outlines five payments and insists all the payments were for welfare reasons.

http://www.supersport.com/football/fifa-internationals/news/120819/AFC_extend_Bin_Hammam_suspension

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have extended the provisional suspension of their former president Mohamed bin Hammam by 20 days, the governing body said on Sunday, as investigations into allegations of financial wrongdoing continue.

The Qatari had been initially suspended for 30 days but chairman of the AFC Disciplinary Committee, Lim Kia Tong, extended that on Wednesday, a day before the ban was due to expire, a statement from the AFC said.
179500

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/dcu...4425_story.html

ZURICH — FIFA’s anti-corruption judge Joachim Eckert has made his first decision in office, to confirm that former presidential candidate Mohamed bin Hammam is provisionally suspended while bribery allegations are investigated.

FIFA says Eckert invited bin Hammam “to submit a written statement” on the case before making his ruling.


http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/organisation/bodies/news/newsid=1685899/

In addition, the Chairman of the Appeal Committee, Larry Mussenden, rejected the appeal lodged against the decision on the provisional measures imposed on Mohamed bin Hammam on 26 July 2012.

FIFA has an anti-corruption judge? That is kind of like a whino running a chemical delendency clinic.

http://nz.sports.yahoo.com/news/article/-/14670955/fifa-to-look-at-2018-2022-world-cup-winning-bids/

Michael Garcia, the newly-appointed joint chief investigator of FIFA's ethics committee, has said the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively will come under scrutiny.

"If you look at things, it is clear there is something to investigate...




The awarding of the 2006 World Cup to Germany will also come under scrutiny...


The American said one of their many tasks is also to look into the relationship between FIFA and defunct marketing company ISL, who sold FIFA's World Cup TV rights.

.........................................................................................................................


These two events and the methods used to make a final decision by the Executive Committee could be enough to show that the culture of FIFA's awarding of events was severely compromised before the bid event even started.

The bid awards would have to be given back.

http://hotnhitnews.com/FIFA-investigates...12029082012.htm

“I’ll be honest, there was a bundle of votes between Spain and Qatar. But it was a nonsense. It was there but it didn’t work, not for one and not for the other side,” Mr. Blatter.

-Mr. Blatter was never called to account for his statement or his seeming endorsement of misconduct.



Three major investigations into corruption in global soccer are putting the credibility of major soccer associations and World Cup 2022 host Qatar to the test and could challenge the Gulf state’s successful bid as well as a massive Asian soccer rights contract.


1. Mr. Bin Hammam had used an AFC sundry account as his personal account and raised questions about his negotiation of a $1 billion marketing and rights contract with Singapore-based World Sport Group (WSG), a $300 million contract with the Qatar-owned Al Jazeera television network and payments of $14 million to Mr. Bin Hammam by entities belonging to a Saudi businessman with a vested interest in the WSG deal.

-They said the contract was out of sync with other international sports bodies that had shifted years ago from rights to service provider agreements.


2. The investigation of the successful Qatari bid cannot be seen independently of a separate FIFA investigation as well as an AFC investigation of Mr. Bin Hammam’s affairs. Mr. Bin Hammam, despite repeated Qatari denials, was closely associated with the bid...

-Mr. Bin Hammam is believed to have had Qatari endorsement of his presidential bid.


3. The Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS) earlier this year overturned FIFA’s banning of Mr. Bin Hammam for life from involvement in soccer because of the alleged bribery on the grounds of insufficient evidence, but stressed that the ruling was not a declaration of innocence. The court encouraged FIFA to conduct a proper investigation.

-They said the Freeh Group report was weak because it had received only a limited mandate from FIFA for its initial investigation rather than due to sloppy work.


The PwC report further suggested that there may have been cases of AFC money laundering, tax invasion, bribery and busting of US sanctions against Iran and North Korea under Mr. Bin Hammam’s leadership.


183653

http://www.football.co.uk/fifa/malaysian_police_probe_football_graft_claim_rss3493207.shtml

Malaysian police are investigating a $10 million fraud claim arising from an audit of Asia's football governing body that led to the suspension of its scandal-tainted president Mohamed bin Hammam.

Izany said the report claimed that "give or take" $10 million had been illegally transferred overseas from AFC accounts between February to June 2008.

It added the alleged infringements included violations of AFC statutes on ethics, corruption, conflicts of interest, bribery and accepting gifts and other benefits.
But it gave no specifics and said it would not comment further on the case for the time being.

http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20619:-robert-madoi-when-fifa-sneezes-no-one-catches-a-cold&catid=44:sports&Itemid=80

My mind quickly goes back to 2005 when government disbanded the Denis Obua-led Fufa. Fifa thought it wise to send a team to help return normalcy to Ugandan football. The team headed by Jerome Champagne had someone clad in a distinctive Nigerian garb.

That someone goes by the name Amos Adamu. He was part of the high-level team that drew the roadmap, which ultimately led to the election of Lawrence Mulindwa. Six years after Adamu and Co. returned ‘normalcy’ to Ugandan football, something happened.

Adamu was found to be anything but squeaky clean...

It appears the football body doesn’t keep tabs on its people. It’s no paragon! Now, all those years after Adamu and Co. came to Kampala to play out the pacifist, Fifa sent another team that made a recommendation that evokes the arsonist/fire-fighter binary as it could well stir a hornet’s nest.

Many had expected the Fifa team to drag USL and Fufa to a round table, but clearly it had other ideas.

So, when Fifa big shots – Ashford Mamelodi, Primo Corvaro and Leodgar Tenga – recently ruled in favour of local football body, Fufa, in an impasse that had pitted the latter against Uganda Super League Limited (USL), it turned out to be a proverbial case of more questions than answers.