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FIFA rejects Temarii’s World Cup bribery appeal

04 February 2011 23:16 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. FIFA’s appeals committee said Friday it has rejected appeals by Oceanian ex football chief Reynald Temarii and fellow executive committee member Amos Adamu of Nigeria against suspensions due to their role in the bribery scandal that rocked bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, APA reports quoting AFP.
In November, FIFA’s ethics committee banned Temarii from FIFA’s decision making executive committee for one year and fined him for ethics violations, following a Sunday Times undercover report on vote-buying during the race to host the World Cups.
Fellow executive committee member Adamu was suspended for three years and fined.
FIFA said in a statement that both punishments had been maintained after a two-day hearing in Zurich.
Temarii’s attorney, Geraldine Lesieur, dismissed the whole appeals process at world football’s governing body as a "pantomime" and vowed to lodge a final appeal to Swiss civil courts.
"We have just received the decision of the appeals committee which confirms the initial decision, following a hearing on February 2," Lesieur told AFP, adding that her client, formerly a FIFA vice-president, was being made a "scapegoat".
Lesieur added that the appeals hearing, chaired by Bermudan judge Larry Mussenden, had been "stormy".
Lesieur said she was considering a final appeal before a Swiss civil court judge rather than before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) "so that Mr Temarii’s case can be examined by independent judges."
Violations of anti-bribery rules were not retained against Temarii following the hearing, while allegations of illicit collusion between candiates for 2018 and 2022 were thrown out.
Russia and Qatar won the right to stage the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in a secret ballot by the remaining members of FIFA’s executive committee in December.
But the process and outcome met with severe criticism from several quarters.
FIFA, which judged that ethical infringements had taken place rather than acts of corruption, said that sanctions against three other officials - Tunisian Slim Aloulou, Mali’s Amadou Diakite and Tonga’s Ahongalu Fusimalohi - had been reduced after they also appealed.