FIFA Ethics and Regulations Watch (FERW) strongly believes FIFA should investigate the corruption allegations against president of the African Football Confederation Ahmad Ahmad.
On Thursday, one day before the start of the Women’s World Cup in France, the FIFA vice-president Ahmad Ahmad was detained and questioned by French authorities as part of a corruption investigation.
As reported, the former Confederation of African Football (CAF) secretary general Amr Fahmy has accused Mr Ahmad of bribing football associations officials and misusing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
According to FIFA, it “is unaware of the details surrounding this investigation and is therefore not in a position to make any comment on it specifically” and “is asking the French authorities for any information that might be relevant to investigations taking place within its ethics committee.”
FIFA has given the following statement in regards to Mr Ahmad’s corruption case:
“FIFA is fully committed to eradicating all forms of wrongdoing at any level in football. Anyone found to have committed illicit or illegal acts has no place in football. FIFA is now clean from the scandals that tarnished its reputation.”
Since May 2015 officials’ arrests, FIFA has struggled to move on from the corruption crisis.
Four continental football organisations each lost elected FIFA Council members as a result of corruption or financial misjudgments charges since Gianni Infantino was elected FIFA president in 2016. FIFA senior vice president David Chung of Papua New Guinea was banned for six-and-a-half years; Kwesi Nyantakyi of Ghana was banned for life; Sheikh Ahmad of Kuwait withdrew his re-election candidacy when implicated in bribing voters, and Reinhard Grindel of Germany resigned.
In light of this news, FERW calls on FIFA to investigate Mr Ahmad’s and other corruption cases in sports worldwide.
Furthermore, FERW also calls on all football clubs and associations officials to abide by FIFA regulations and act in accordance with the FIFA Code of Ethics to ensure that all practices are conducted in a clean and moral environment.
