Bin Hammam confident of clearing name
Reuters - Thursday 26 May 2011, 08:45
ZURICH - FIFA presidency candidate Mohamed Bin
Hammam was due to arrive in Zurich on Thursday to deal with
bribery allegations labelled against him by a fellow executive
committee member and remains "very confident" he will be
cleared.
An Asian Football Confederation (AFC) official told Reuters
on Thursday that the allegations against the regional chief,
brought to attention by American CONCACAF general secretary
Chuck Blazer, would not cause any problems to the Qatari.
"He's going to present his case, to get his name cleared and
is very confident he will do so," the official, who wished to
remain anonymous, told Reuters.
"It will be business as usual. There is no chance he will
withdraw from the election."
Bin Hammam was arriving early in Switzerland to attend a
FIFA finance committee meeting later on Thursday ahead of the
ethics committee meeting on Sunday, where he and CONCACAF
president and fellow FIFA Executive Committee member Jack Warner
stand accused of bribery.
The accusations stem from a meeting of the Caribbean
Football Union (CFU) on May 10 and 11, which was attended by
Warner and Bin Hammam and which FIFA said was linked to the
presidential campaign.
Two CFU members, Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester, were
also accused of wrongdoing and have been asked to attend
Sunday's meeting.
Deputy chairman Petrus Damaseb of Namibia will head the
ethics committee meeting after chairman Claudio Sulser stood
down as the Swiss shares the same nationality as FIFA president
Sepp Blatter, Bin Hammam's election opponent.
The 62-year-old Qatari built much of his election manifesto
on his wish to make FIFA more transparent after a rash of
negative headlines and the suspension of two executive committee
members before the vote for the hosting of the 2018 and 2022
World Cups in December.
He faces a tough task in ousting 13-year incumbent Blatter
and in a statement released on Wednesday when FIFA revealed the
allegations, Bin Hammam pointed an accusing finger as to why the
accusations had come out a week before the June 1 election.
"This move is little more than a tactic being used by those
who have no confidence in their own ability to emerge
successfully from the FIFA presidential election," the Asian
football chief said.