African Soccer Chief Is Barred for Five Years Over Ethics Violations

African Soccer Chief – Ahmad Ahmad, the president of one of FIFA’s six regional confederations, has been accused of abusing his office.

On Monday FIFA barred the top official in African soccer from the sport for five years. In addition, altering the leadership of one of its six regional confederations. This is happening only months before a presidential election. However, this offers a new reminder that corruption continues to plague global soccer even at its most senior levels.

The punishment of the official, Ahmad Ahmad, is related to his conduct from 2017 to 2019. during this time he served as the president of the Confederation of African Football and a FIFA vice president. According to a statement released by FIFA’s ethics body, Ahmad was found guilty of breaching four separate articles of the organization’s ethics code. According to the statement; these include abuse of office, misappropriation of funds and rules concerning the offering and acceptance of gifts.

His ban will disqualify him from standing for a new term early next year. However, Ahmad escaped with a shorter ban than other African officials that have violated one of the same rules.

This decision was announced more than a year after FIFA received complaints of wrongdoing by Ahmad Ahmad. That is, 17 months after he was arrested and questioned by French investigators about corruption allegations related to an apparel contract. In its statement, FIFA said part of its investigation into Ahmad’s conduct in office was linked to that deal. Ethics investigators also looked into the financing of a trip for a number of African officials to the Saudi Arabian holy city of Mecca.

Ahmad called the allegations an effort to smear his reputation and later denied any wrongdoing in the French corruption investigation.