FIFA bans Tahitian football head for eight years

Lausanne: FIFA on Wednesday banned Reynald Temarii, General Director of the Tahiti Football Association, for eight years for breaking the world body`s ethics code by accepting more than 300,000 euros from former Qatari official Mohamed bin Hammam.

FIFA said Temarii accepted 305,640 euros from Bin Hammam, who was then a member of the FIFA executive committee and the AFC president, to cover the costs of his legal expenses in the context of an appeal against a previous ban imposed by FIFA`s ethics committee in November 2010.

"Mr Temarii received the money in January 2011 following a meeting with Mr Bin Hammam in November 2010 in Kuala Lumpur," FIFA said in a statement after the ruling by the adjudicatory chamber of the independent FIFA Ethics Committee, chaired by Hans-Joachim Eckert.

Temarii was banned as of Wednesday "from taking part in any kind of football-related activity at national and international level for a period of eight years", FIFA said.

Oceanian ex-football chief Temarii was previously suspended by FIFA for his role in the bribery scandal that rocked bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

In November 2010, FIFA`s ethics committee banned Temarii from FIFA`s decision making executive committee for one year and fined him for ethics violations, following a Sunday Times undercover report on vote-buying during the race to host the World Cups.

Russia and Qatar won the right to stage the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in a secret ballot by the remaining members of FIFA`s executive committee in December.

But the process and outcome met with severe criticism from several quarters.