By Andrew Warshaw
April 17 – Former Asia football supremo Mohamed Bin Hammam makes a final attempt to regain his credibility when he tries to overturn his lifetime FIFA ban for corruption tomorrow.
Bin Hammam’s case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne is expected to last two days, the culmination of months of claims and counter-claims over the 62-year-old Qatari’s role in the cash-for-votes scandal in Trinidad last May.
Bin Hammam (pictured top, with FIFA President Sepp Blatter) was banned for life after being found guilty of paying cash gifts to Caribbean football officials during his FIFA presidential campaign.
He has already failed to overturn the ban at FIFA’s Appeal Committee and now makes a last-ditch stance before a CAS panel.
It is not known whether or not Bin Hammam will attend the hearing in person or leave the case to his lawyers.
He categorically denies that he was guilty of any wrongdoing even though, according to a FIFA Ethics Committee report, witnesses said then FIFA vice-president Jack Warner instructed delegates to go to a room to pick up gifts – brown envelopes each containing $40,000 (£25,000/€30,400) in cash.
According to these same witnesses, Warner said that Bin Hammam “was the actual source of the money”.
Bribery charges against Warner were dropped after he resigned from all football activities.
In August Bin Hammam said he was found guilty by a ‘kangaroo court’ and that he would fight to clear his name.
In hard-hitting language, he declared that others were instrumental in a smear campaign against him.
“My suspension was a political decision and an absolute abuse of power to deprive me of my right to contest for FIFA Presidency,” he stormed.
He earlier withdrew his candidacy leaving Sepp Blatter a clear run for an unopposed fourth straight term.
Bin Hammam has already failed at one previous CAS hearing when he attempted to stop the Asian Football Confederation replacing him as president; China’s Jilong Zhang (pictured above, with Bin Hamman in centre) is doing the job on an interim basis, with elections due next month.
The CAS decision on Bin Hammam’s appeal is not expected to be made public until later this month.
If he wins he seems certain to resume his leadership of the regional body and return to FIFA’s Executive Committee.
But if he loses, his career in football is effectively over pending a possible final appeal to the highest Swiss civil courts.
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November 2011: Bin Hammam formally launches battle to clear his name at CAS
