Bin Hammam writes to FIFA, claims unfair treatment

Hammam claims he was deliberately debarred from attending the FIFA Congress.

Zurich: Suspended Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohammed bin Hammam said that he was deliberately debarred from attending the FIFA Congress as the world body decided to accept the Qatari`s appeal only after Wednesday`s meeting.

In a letter to FIFA on Wednesday, bin Hammam, who had challenged incumbent Sepp Blatter in the FIFA presidential elections but withdrew later, protested what he termed unfair treatment meted out to him by the FIFA Ethics Committee. Bin Hammam, along with FIFA vice-president Jack Warner and two Caribbean Football Union (CFU) officials, was provisionally suspended by the ethics committee on charges of bribery. Bin Hammam alleged that he was not provided with the documents on his suspension in time and he was not able to file his appeal, and thus was denied the last opportunity to get access to the FIFA congress.In his letter, bin Hammam listed ten points to state that he was not getting a fair hearing. "I was punished before I was found guilty," he said in a statement. Bin Hammam also stated that he does not understand why the ethics committee found the statements of the sole eyewitness truthful when it came to the allegations made against him but disregarded the written statements of 12 CFU officials in his favour. He also said that FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke also misused his power during Sunday`s media conference. "Sitting next to the chairman of the independent ethics committee, he abused the event to voice his personal opinions and to comment on the results," the letter read. IANS