DUBAI – Mohamed Bin Hammam said accusations he enriched his family and supporters while serving as president of Asian football are politically motivated and that he plans to fight “this clear abuse of power and process at the hand of FIFA.” In a letter to 20 Asian associations, Bin Hammam confirmed he made payments to football officials and others but said they came out of his own bank accounts and were driven by a desire to help those in need — including Zhang Jilong, the current AFC president who ordered the PriceWaterhouseCoopers audit that instigated the investigation by FIFA's ethics committee. “Jilong was one of those who came to me for financial support and I helped him with a significant amount from my personal account,” Bin Hammam wrote. “I will leave him to explain the circumstances of this to you if he wishes.” The 63-year-old Qatari had a lifetime football ban overturned in court in July following allegations he bribed Caribbean voters when he challenged Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency. The accusations in the PWC audit are the subject of separate investigations by the Asian Football Confederation and FIFA, but have been described by Bin Hammam as “a repeat of what FIFA did immediately before I stood against Mr. Blatter in the presidential elections last year.” “This, of course, is yet another attempt by Zurich through the infinite tools and power of FIFA to diminish and insult Asia's name by attacking me directly following the annulment of my previous FIFA ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport,” Bin Hammam wrote. Bin Hammam's letter cites the names of five people from Bangladesh, Nepal and Kyrgyzstan whom he says he helped, including two who have since died of cancer, one who had open-heart surgery, another for tuition fees for a FIFA program, and the family of a 16-year-old from Nepal who died while playing football. “Let me declare that as a human being with the personal means to help and coming from a culture and society where this is seen as a duty, I am proud of these accusations, and I welcome them,” Bin Hammam wrote. The audit accuses Bin Hammam of receiving millions of dollars from individuals linked to AFC contracts and spending tens of thousands on items such as a honeymoon, dental work, haircuts and cash payments for his family. Payments are alleged to have been made to Asian, African and Caribbean football officials, including $250,000 to Jack Warner, the former longtime head of Caribbean football. Tens of thousands of dollars were given to federation presidents and their relatives, the audit claimed, adding that most of it went into their personal bank accounts and none of it was for football-related expenses. According to the audit, Gaurav Thapa, whose father heads the Nepalese federation, received $100,000 while Filipino football official Jose Mari Martinez was given $60,000 and had $11,226 in hospital expenses paid. Another $50,000 went to East Timorese football official Francisco Kalbuadi Lay, the audit found. The audit also said that a Bangladesh football federation spokesman received $25,000 for tuition expenses and that its general secretary was given $20,000 to cover the cost of cancer treatment. Bin Hammam seemed embarrassed and offended that the federations had been dragged into his own investigation. “My legal team has filed an immediate response to the actions of the AFC and FIFA in relation to my latest politically motivated ban,” he wrote. “I will announce further steps very shortly.” — AP
