(Reuters) – The Asian Football Confederation have suspended former President Mohamed Bin Hammam after a lengthy audit of their accounts revealed fresh allegations of financial wrongdoing, the body said in a statement on Tuesday.
Bin Hammam, who is fighting a life ban by soccer’s world governing body FIFA for bribery, was suspended for 30 days by the AFC.
The governing body in Asia said he had been suspended for “events surrounding the negotiation and execution of certain contracts and with the financial transactions made in and out of AFC bank accounts and his personal account during the tenure of Mr. Bin Hammam’s presidency.”
Qatar’s Bin Hammam challenged Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency last year.
He withdrew his candidacy, and was then provisionally suspended, days before the June election over allegations that he had tried to buy the votes of Caribbean officials by handing them $40,000 each in brown envelopes.
Blatter was subsequently re-elected unopposed for a fourth term as FIFA president, while Bin Hammam was found guilty of breaking seven articles of FIFA’s ethics code, including one on bribery.
Bin Hammam, who has denied any wrongdoing, was banned for life and subsequently lost an appeal at FIFA.
He has appealed that decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
