FOOTMIX: Bin Hammam under pressure again; Cassano fined; Barcelona in profit
KUALA LUMPUR: An audit of Asian Football Confederation accounts has claimed that Mohamed Bin Hammam handed hundreds of thousands of dollars to friends and relatives.
The 63-year-old Qatari – whose football life ban was overturned this past week by the Court of Arbitration for Sport – had allegedly used AFC funds for his own purposes. He was suspended last week for a month by the AFC pending further inquiries.
The audit was prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers and has been widely leaked. It stated: “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.”
Bin Hammam was said to have received millions of dollars from individuals linked to AFC contracts and spent tens of thousands of dollars on items including 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 soccer officials, including $250,000 to Jack Warner, the former president of the Central and North American confederation, CONCACAF.
Bin Hammam’s United States lawyer described the allegations were a FIFA tactic to block his return to a position of power in world football.
A statement issued by Eugene Gulland said: “If there were ever any question about the political motives behind FIFA’s vendetta against Mr Bin Hammam, it has been answered by the outrageous and baseless new charges that FIFA and AFC are bringing against him.”
** Italy and Milan’s Antonio Cassano has been fined E15,000 by UEFA for saying during Euro 2012 that he hoped there were no homosexuals in the team. Formally, the European described the offence as the issuing of a “discriminatory press statement.” Cassano, who three days in which to appeal, has already apologised for his comment after criticism from Italian gay groups.
** Barcelona, despite not having won the Champions League and Spanish league, recorded a record surplus of E48.8m in the 2011-12 season. Finance vice-president Javier Faus said this partly due to the club not having had to pay E12m in title win bonuses. Income was up E21.5m to E494.9m while expenditure fell E31.5m to E441.1m. The club’s debt had thus been cut to E335m from E420m two years ago.
