Soccer: Mohamed Bin Hammam has come out fighting after being charged by Fifa with offering bribes for votes, claiming the charge is a discrediting tactic by Sepp Blatter — his opponent in next week's Fifa presidential election.
The Qatari and Fifa vice-president Jack Warner, who has also been charged, will face the governing body's ethics committee on Sunday where they will face long bans if the allegations — made by fellow executive committee member Chuck Blazer — are proved.
Bin Hammam said in a statement: “This has been a difficult and painful day for me today. But, if there is even the slightest justice in the world, these allegations will vanish in the wind.
“This move is little more than a tactic being used by those who have no confidence in their own ability to emerge successfully from the Fifa presidential election.”
Blazer, an American who is the general secretary of the Concacaf federation of which Warner is president, has alleged that violations of Fifa's code of ethics occurred during a meeting organised by Bin Hammam and Warner for Caribbean Football Union (CFU) associations in the Bahamas two weeks ago.
Two CFU officials, Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester, have also been charged.
Bin Hammam added: “I remain deeply indebted to Mr Warner for his sense of fair play because without his support and understanding I would not have been able to meet with several important member associations of FIFA to discuss my election manifesto.
“Here I completely deny any allegations of wrongdoing either intentionally or unknowingly while I was in the Caribbean. I will speak to Mr Warner on this subject and offer him my full support in ensuring we are discharged honourably by the Fifa Ethics Committee, a body which I hold in the highest esteem.
“I am confident that there is no charge to answer and that I will be free to stand in the Fifa presidential election on June 1 as originally planned.”
The chairman of the ethics committee, Claudio Sulser, will not oversee the proceedings because he shares Swiss nationality Blatter, and this could be construed as a conflict of interests. The meeting will instead be chaired by the committee's deputy chairman Petrus Damaseb of Namibia.
The new investigation follows on from a separate inquiry launched earlier this month by Fifa into claims made in the British Parliament regarding the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups last year. Former Football Association chairman Lord Triesman alleged during a culture, media and sport select committee hearing that he had witnessed "improper and unethical" behaviour by four ExCo members - including Warner - during his time as England's 2018 World Cup bid chairman.
Triesman alleged that Warner asked for cash to build an education centre; that Thailand's Fifa member Worawi Makudi wanted to be given the television rights to a friendly between England and the Thai national team; that Paraguay's Fifa member Nicolas Leoz asked for a knighthood; and that Brazil's Fifa member Ricardo Terra Teixeira asked Triesman to "come and tell me what you have got for me".
Two other ExCo members - Fifa vice-president Issa Hayatou of Cameroon and Jacques Anouma of the Ivory Coast - were accused in the committee of having been paid 1.5million dollars each to back Qatar's successful bid to host the 2022 finals in a submission to the committee by the Sunday Timesnewspaper.
Earlier this month the FA sent a full dossier of Triesman's allegations to Fifa, while the organisation also requested that the Sunday Times submit any evidence they had to support their allegations of wrongdoing in relation to the Qatar bid.
