Mohamed Bin Hammam suspended by AFC over accounts probe

The Asian Football Confederation chief has been provisionally suspended for 30 days over alleged violations of the body's ethics and corruption rules.

Former AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam

Asian Football Confederation chief Mohamed bin Hammam has been provisionally suspended from all football activity for 30 days following a forensic audit of the governing body's accounts.

The former AFC president has already been banned for life by FIFA after being found guilty of paying cash gifts totalling close to $1million (Dh3.67m) to Caribbean football officials during his campaign for the presidency of football's world governing body last year.

The suspension, over possible ethical violations, represents a new blow to the Qatari's efforts to clear his name.

The audit, by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, looked at "events surrounding the negotiation and execution of certain contracts and with the financial transactions made in and out of AFC bank accounts and his personal account during the tenure of Mr. Bin Hammam's presidency," the AFC said in a statement.

Bin Hammam is suspended "from taking part in any kind of football activity in the area of jurisdiction of the AFC until the AFC Disciplinary Committee reaches a decision on the merits in the present matter," it added.

The alleged infringements included violations of AFC statutes on ethics, corruption, conflicts of interest, bribery and accepting gifts and other benefits.

Bin Hammam has denied wrongdoing in the FIFA presidential challenge, saying cash handouts he received during the election were merely gifts, and he describes the charges and his punishment by FIFA as politically motivated.

He is awaiting a final verdict on his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, his final chance to overturn the world ban, but the body he formerly headed are now pursuing their own investigation into a number of alleged rule breaches.

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