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Wednesday, 20 July 2011

Bin Hammam Vows to Clear Name


Mohamed Bin Hammam has vowed to clear his name when the former Fifa presidential candidate faces corruption charges in Zurich this week.

Bin Hammam, a Fifa executive committee member and president of the Asian Football Confederation, has been suspended since 29th May on charges of bribery, which he denies.

The 62-year-old Qatari will appear before Fifa's ethics committee on Friday to deny charges of attempting to bribe members of the Caribbean Football Union at a meeting in Trinidad in May.

On Wednesday he vowed to disprove allegations he claims were designed to "besmirch (his) name in the public domain".

Bin Hammam, who had been set to run against incumbent president Sepp Blatter before being suspended, said on his website: "Why was the Fifa ethics committee in such a hurry to suspend me before the Fifa election took place, and then begin to search for evidence to find if I am guilty or not?

"Why have I not been treated in a similar way to others who, according to the ethics committee, received inducements?

"With just a few days to go before my hearing, there can be no doubt that there has been a campaign waged within certain quarters to ensure that I am seen to be guilty and eliminated from football in the court of public opinion, even before my hearing has started.

"The leaking of confidential information by individuals to the media, before the entire story had been told in a manner that is fair to all sides, was done for their own purposes and personal agendas.

"Furthermore, a statement was made on June 23 by an ethics committee official that there is 'compelling evidence that Bin Hammam had paid money' to specific parties. Two days later on June 25, a high-ranking Fifa official told the media that 'Bin Hammam will be banned for life'."

He added: "Despite these clear attempts to besmirch my name in the public domain, I will not allow my own suspicions to dash my hopes or to make me think, as some would wish, that I will have to travel a long and hard road to clear my name of the stain of this politically motivated affair.

"My years serving football and Fifa lead me to think, and presume, that at the very least the ethics committee will give me the fair hearing that I deserve, uninfluenced by political agendas or other interests.

"Notwithstanding the bias and the absence of fair proceedings since the start of this trial, over the past seven weeks my legal team and I have been working very hard to provide convincing grounds that fair play was highly respected and observed throughout my election campaign, including in Trinidad and Tobago, in accordance with Fifa's own practices as laid down by its rules and regulations."

Jack Warner, the Fifa vice-president who was charged along with Bin Hammam, will not face the ethics committee after Fifa dropped the investigation into him following his resignation from football activities.


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