Mohamed Bin HammamKUALA LUMPUR — Mohamed Bin Hammam, the scandal-tainted former FIFA presidential candidate whose life ban was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport this week, has said he wants to retire from football. The 63-year-old, who was accused of offering cash bribes to buy FIFA delegate votes during campaigning to unseat long-standing President Sepp Blatter last year, said he wanted to quit due to “jealousy" within the sport. “My wish now is just to quit actually and retire," the Qatari, who was this week suspended as the head of the Asian Football Confederation for 30 days over fresh corruption allegations, told the BBC. “Frankly speaking, what is my wish? To quit. Really I served football that long, more than 42 years, and the last year really I have seen a very bad, very ugly face of the sport and of the football, you know, jealousy," he said. “I wish to leave football." Asian football officials could not be reached for comment, while Peter Velappan, who was AFC general secretary for 30 years and a bitter rival of Bin Hammam, declined to comment. Bin Hammam Thursday won his appeal at the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport against a life ban from all football-related activity over the bribery allegations. But a three-member panel that considered the case stopped short of exonerating him. In a related development the Associated Press, quoting an audit it has obtained, said that Bin Hammam enriched himself and handed out hundreds of thousands of dollars to friends and relatives. The audit was prepared by the international accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers and dated July 13. A copy of the report was obtained by the AP; its contents were confirmed by two people with direct knowledge of the report who spoke on condition of anonymity because it hasn't been made public. “It is highly unusual for funds (especially in the amounts detailed here) that appear to be for the benefit of Mr. Hammam personally, to be deposited to an organization's bank account," the audit said. He received millions of dollars from individuals linked to AFC contracts, according to the audit, and spent tens of thousands of dollars on items like a honeymoon for his son and dental work, haircuts and cash payments for his family. It found he spent $700,000 from AFC coffers on himself and his family, including $100,000 for his wife, $10,000 on a Bulgari watch for himself and nearly $5,000 for his daughter's cosmetic dentistry. Payments were also made to Asian, African and Caribbean football officials, including $250,000 to Jack Warner, the longtime strongman of Caribbean football. Bin Hammam was not available for comment. His United States lawyer said the allegations were a FIFA tactic to block his return to world football. The audit found that a contract for commercial rights with World Sports Group and its subsidiary World Sports Football were no-bid contracts that were “considerably undervalued." A $14 million payment from companies with stakes in WSG, Al-Baraka Investment and Development Co. and International Sports Events Company, was made to the AFC for the “personal use of its president," the report said. Bin Hammam also approved several lucrative, no-bid contracts for commercial rights, including one for Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera Satellite Network. The audit said its review of the AFC accounts found that it routinely handed out tens of thousands of dollars in cash to federation presidents and their relatives. Most of it went to their personal bank accounts and none of it was for football related expenses, it said. Gaurav Thapa, whose father heads the Nepalese federation, received $100,000 while a Filipino football official Jose Mari Martinez received $60,000 and had $20,000 in hospital expenses paid. Another $50,000 went to an East Timorese football official Francisco Kalbuadi Lay, the audit found. Another $25,000 went for tuition expenses for a Bangladesh football federation spokesman and $20,000 to cover the cost of cancer treatment for the federation's general secretary. Abu Nayeem Shohag, Acting General Secretary of the Bangladesh Football Federation, acknowledged that its former Communication Manager Ahmed Sayed Al-Fatah received $25,000 from the AFC to help cover the cost of a FIFA master's program and that former General Secretary Al-Musabbir Sadi received $20,000 for cancer treatment. But he said the payments were justified. Also, nearly $2,000 was spent by Bin Hammam to buy 14 shirts for Blatter and nearly $5,000 went toward the purchase of suits for Issa Hayatou, the CAF president. — Agencies
