Hammam to fight to clear his name

Mohamed bin Hammam will again fight to clear his name after FIFA opened a new investigation into the former presidential candidate less than a month after the Qatari's life ban for bribery was overturned by sport's highest court CAS.

World soccer's governing body said in a statement last week that it was collecting further evidence that Bin Hamman tried to buy votes before last year's FIFA elections.
It will also investigate allegations of financial wrongdoing while he was head of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Bin Hamman received a 30-day suspension by the AFC on July 17, which was extended worldwide by FIFA on July 26 when he was provisionally suspended for 90 days by the Ethics Committee in the wake of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling.

However, in a letter to AFC committee members quoted by the BBC on Tuesday, Bin Hammam said: “My legal team has filed an immediate response to the actions of the AFC and FIFA in relation to my latest politically-motivated ban.”

“I will announce further steps very shortly to challenge this clear abuse of power and process at the hand of FIFA,” he added.

Bin Hammam challenged Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency last year but withdrew days before the election amid allegations he tried to buy the votes of Caribbean officials.

Blatter went on to win a fourth term as FIFA president unopposed and Bin Hammam was banned for life from all soccer-related activity over the bribery allegations.

CAS then upheld an appeal by Bin Hammam against the life ban, declaring FIFA's evidence insufficient.

However, it said the decision was not an “affirmative finding of innocence” for the Qatari and that the case could be re-opened with new evidence.