FIFA bans Mohamed bin Hammam for life from football - Kolocheirani photo

FIFA president Sepp Blatter - Roosewelt Pinheiro/Abr Photo

Sports Notes MAX - BIN HAMMAM LATEST VICTIM IN FIFA'S SLUGHTER HOUSE

James Loving - National Radio Text Service

During his experience with Madonna Rodman went wild with his conduct. For certain Madonna wasn't like a virgin for the very first time. They split up but Dennis the Menace's wild life went on

Sunday July 24, 2011

ELIMINATE THE COMPETITION

This year FIFA has been overwhelmed with problems. The focus was on the credibility of its members and executive committee. It's no secret that the organization is run on the good old boy buddy system of you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.

From our perspective the credibility of one of its members came to light when he attacked and assaulted his then wife with a deadly weapon. He is a close friend of FIFA President Sepp Blatter.

It then boils down to the company one keeps. It seems that Blatter has been in power since Moses parted the Red Sea. As he was seldom challenged in the FIFA elections that all changed this year with the entry of Qatar's Mohamed bin Hammam who was going to eliminate the corruption in FIFA. It became a kiss of death for the as just three days prior to the elections Blatter and FIFA brought charges against Hammam for bribery on trying to by votes with $40,000 per vote cast his way.

With the opposition out of the way an unopposed Blatter won the election. Yesterday Hammam was banned for life from football. It was he that led the charge for Qatar to win the bid for the 2022 World Cup.

When you analyze the situation red flags went up when a few days prior to the election fire storm FIFA donated to INTERPOL the largest grant it has ever received from a private institution to create an unprecedented ten-year program worth millions of euros a year at a dedicated FIFA Anti-Corruption Training Wing within the INTERPOL Global Complex (IGC) in Singapore.

The announcement was made by FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter and INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble at a press conference held at the Home of FIFA in Zurich. Under the agreement, INTERPOL will receive EUR 4 million in each of the first two years, followed by EUR 1.5 million in each of the following eight years.

Interpol's longest-ever funded initiative will target illegal and irregular betting and match-fixing, the scale of which has been highlighted by recent fixing allegations and the involvement of Asian gambling syndicates in global match-fixing - with estimates by Interpol's global law enforcement network that illegal football gambling is worth up to hundreds of millions of US dollars in Asia alone each year.

The deal was done and the relationship was sealed, FIFA and Blatter now had Interpol in its corner. The question is was this strong political move implemented as a diversionary tactic? Hammam claims that his case was politically motivated to stop him from challenging Blatter, who was re-elected unopposed last month only three days after the Asian Football Confederation president withdrew his candidacy.

FIFA has more dirty laundry to clean and many skeletons in its closet that need to be dusted off. Perhaps Interpol could examine the integrity of its donors and not be bought off. Corruption is corruption no matter how you slice and dice it.

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