LONDON – FIFA stepped up investigations into alleged bribery by Mohamed Bin Hammam Thursday by banning the former presidential candidate from football for 90 days. FIFA said its new independent prosecutor Michael Garcia wanted Bin Hammam suspended while he examines an audit detailing alleged financial mismanagement of Asian Football Confederation accounts and billion-dollar commercial contracts during the Qatari official's leadership. “The decision was taken ... in order to prevent interference with the establishment of the truth in respect of a preliminary investigation," FIFA said in a statement. Garcia also is searching for fresh evidence that Bin Hammam bribed Caribbean voters during his challenge to Sepp Blatter last year, FIFA said. Bin Hammam had his life ban from football overturned last week by the Court of Arbitration for Sport last week which decided that FIFA failed to prove its case. Three days before the verdict, the Asian football body ensured that bin Hammam could not immediately return to office by imposing a 30-day ban while it studies the audit it commissioned. FIFA's new suspension acts as a second blocking tactic, and denies him his seat at the FIFA executive committee table when it next meets in Zurich on Sept. 27-28. Bin Hammam, who joined FIFA's executive committee in 1996, was elected as AFC president nine years ago and used his status as a platform to challenge his former ally Blatter. — AP
