The Asian Football Confederation said it had suspended for 30 days its chief Mohamed bin Hammam over possible ethical violations in a new blow to the under-fire Qatari’s efforts to clear his name.
Bin Hammam, 63, has been fighting charges he tried to buy FIFA delegate votes in campaigning to unseat the world body’s long-standing president Sepp Blatter in a leadership election last year. The scandal earned him a FIFA life ban from football and he has been provisionally replaced by the AFC pending appeals.
But the AFC said in a statement posted on its website late Monday that it had handed bin Hammam a 30-day suspension the day before following an external audit of the confederation’s financial accounts.
The audit deals with “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,” it said.
