FIFA bans CAF President for five years for breach of ethics, abuse of position
The Adjudicatory Chamber of the independent Ethics Committee of the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) has banned Mr. Ahmad Ahmad, the President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for breaching the ethics of offering and accepting gifts and other benefits. He was also fined 200,000 CHF.
Ahmad was found guilty of having breached Article 15 (Duty of loyalty), Article 20 (Offering and accepting gifts or other benefits) and Article 25 (Abuse of position) of the 2020 edition of the FIFA Code of Ethics, as well as Article 28 (Misappropriation of funds) of the 2018 edition.
A statement from the World governing football body said, investigations into Mr. Ahmad’s conduct in his position as CAF President during the period from 2017 to 2019 concerned various CAF-related governance issues, including the organisation and financing of an Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca, his involvement in CAF’s dealings with the sports equipment company Tactical Steel and other activities.
In its decision, following an extensive hearing, the adjudicatory chamber ruled that, based on information gathered by the investigatory chamber, Mr. Ahmad had breached his duty of loyalty, offered gifts and other benefits, mismanaged funds and abused his position as the CAF President, pursuant to the FIFA Code of Ethics.
Consequently, the adjudicatory chamber found that Mr. Ahmad had breached Articles 15, 20 and 25 of the current edition of the FIFA Code of Ethics, as well as Article 28 of the 2018 edition, and sanctioned him with a ban from all football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other) at both national and international level for five years. In addition, a fine in the amount of CHF 200,000 has been imposed on Mr. Ahmad.
The terms of the decision were notified to Mr. Ahmad today, the date on which the ban comes into force. In accordance with Article 78 Part 2 of the FIFA Code of Ethics, the full, motivated decision will be notified to Mr. Ahmad in the next 60 days, after which it would be published on legal.fifa.com.
Source: GNA