FIFA bans former executive Chuck Blazer for life

Zurich, July 10: Former FIFA executive committee member and former general secretary of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), Chuck Blazer was on Thursday banned from football for life by the FIFA ethics committee for violating several provisions of the FIFA code of ethics.

According to FIFA, the adjudicatory chamber of the ethics committee chaired by Hans-Joachim Eckert views that Blazer was a key player in schemes involving the offer, acceptance, payment and receipt of undisclosed and illegal payments, bribes and kickbacks as well as other money making schemes, reports Efe.

The ban came into force on Thursday based on investigations carried out by the investigation chamber of the ethics committee in response to the final report of the CONCACAF integrity committee, and the latest facts presented by the US attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York.

FIFA deemed Blazer as guilty of violating the its code of ethics Article 13 (General rules of conduct), Article 15 (Loyalty), Article 16 (Confidentiality), Article 18 (Duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting), Article 19 (Conflicts of interest), Article 20 (Offering and accepting gifts and other benefits) and Article 21 (Bribery and corruption).

In May 2013, the ethics committee decided to provisionally suspend the investigation in relation to Blazer until the end of 2013, in light of Blazer's deteriorating health.

That procedure was the result of a CONCACAF integrity committee report, which accused Blazer and former CONCACAF president Jack Warner of embezzling at least $57 million during their time as general secretary and president respectively.

However, New York-based Blazer was only suspended for 90 days.

Subsequently, in December 2014, when Cornel Borbely became the independent president of the adjudicatory chamber, he agreed to lift the suspension and to launch new proceedings against Blazer, which ultimately led to the lifetime ban issued on Thursday.

Blazer played a key role in court investigations in the US and Switzerland for possible corruption within the FIFA organisation, assisting in the arrest of seven officials last May 27.

Blazer was subjected to investigation in 2011 in the US and agreed to cooperate to avoid serving time for amassing a fortune of $22 million, allegedly hidden in fake companies, and possible tax evasion.

Blazer's testimony played an essential role in the U.S. judiciary's case against nine FIFA officials and five others related to the organisation.

He also admitted to accepting bribes to designate the venues of the FIFA World Cup in 1998 and 2010, held in France and South Africa respectively, in addition to several Gold Cup competitions.

Blazer managed to evade taxes for two decades as the general secretary of the CONCACAF, while an internal investigation in 2013 found that he had diverted funds from the confederation to afford two apartments in Manhattan and luxury homes in Miami and the Bahamas, among other assets.