Corruption: FIFA bans ex-VP Temarii for eight years

In a ruling that could lead to the downfall of more high-level soccer officials, the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) has banned a former vice-president, Reynald Temarii, for eight years for taking money from Mohamed bin Hammam, one of the key backers of Qatar’s successful World Cup bid.
Temarii breached five sections of FIFA’s ethics code when he accepted 305,640 euros ($343,000) to pay legal costs in a fight against FIFA from Bin Hammam in January 2011, the governing body said Wednesday in announcing its ethics committee’s verdict.
The length of the ban shows that the FIFA ethics committee could act tough in potentially dozens of pending cases of soccer officials from Asia and Africa taking cash gifts from the now-disgraced Bin Hammam.
Temarii, then the president of the Oceania Football Confederation, was originally found guilty of breaking confidentiality and loyalty rules by discussing the World Cup hosting contest with undercover reporters. He was banned for one year and barred from voting in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid contest.
The Tahitian appealed, a move that ensured Oceania could not take part in the bid contest. The regional body was mandated to support Australia, one of Qatar’s four rivals in the 2022 contest.
Russia and Qatar, respectively, were picked to host those tournaments by the FIFA executive committee in December, 2010.
The latest ban comes because Bin Hammam agreed to fund Temarii’s legal fight.
FIFA said Wednesday that Temarii met with Bin Hammam, then president of the Asian Football Confederation, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in November 2010 before pursuing his appeal.
Temarii broke rules relating to accepting gifts, conflicts of interest, loyalty, confidentiality and general rules of conduct, FIFA said.