Fifa bans Caf president

Ngwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
WORLD football governing body Fifa has banned Caf president Ahmad Ahmad for five years from football related activities and fined him CHF 200,000 for unprofessional conduct.

The Fifa Ethics Committee found Madagascar’s Ahmad to have breached a number of statutes.

“The adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee has found Ahmad Ahmad, the president of the Confederation of African Football (Caf) and a Fifa Vice-president, guilty of having breached art. 15 (Duty of loyalty), art. 20 (Offering and accepting gifts or other benefits) and art. 25 (Abuse of position) of the 2020 edition of the Fifa Code of Ethics, as well as art. 28 (Misappropriation of funds) of the 2018 edition.

“The investigation into Mr Ahmad’s conduct in his position as Caf president during the period from 2017 to 2019 concerned various Caf-related governance issues, including the organisation and financing of an Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca, his involvement in Caf’s dealings with the sports equipment company Tactical Steel and other activities.

“In its decision, following an extensive hearing, the adjudicatory chamber ruled that, based on information gathered by the investigatory chamber, Mr Ahmad had breached his duty of loyalty, offered gifts and other benefits, mismanaged funds and abused his position as the Caf president, pursuant to the Fifa Code of Ethics. Consequently, the adjudicatory chamber found that Mr Ahmad had breached arts 15, 20 and 25 of the current edition of the Fifa Code of Ethics, as well as art. 28 of the 2018 edition, and sanctioned him with a ban from all football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other) at both national and international level for five years. In addition, a fine in the amount of CHF 200,000 has been imposed on Mr Ahmad.

“The terms of the decision were notified to Mr Ahmad today, the date on which the ban comes into force. In accordance with art. 78 par. 2 of the FIFA Code of Ethics, the full, motivated decision will be notified to Mr Ahmad in the next 60 days, after which it will be published on legal.fifa.com.”

Ahmad had indicated that he would seek reelection next year when the Caf Elective General Assembly is held on 12 March in Rabat, Morocco, but his candidature has been thrown into disarray. One of the candidates is South Africa billionaire and owner of Mamelodi Sundowns Patrice Motsepe.