London, July 24(ANI): FIFA executive committee member and Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed bin Hammam has declared 'war' on FIFA president Sepp Blatter, and vowed to clear his name after being banned from all international and national football activity for life for being found guilty of bribery.
Bin Hammam had been suspended since May 29 pending an investigation into claims that he attempted to bribe members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) at a meeting on the FIFA presidency campaign trail in Trinidad in May.
After a two-day hearing which Bin Hammam did not attend, ethics committee deputy chairman Petrus Damaseb confirmed that the former FIFA presidential candidate was found guilty and banned from all football-related activity for life.
The 62-year-old Qatari has responded to the verdict by publishing on his blog a scanned copy of a personal letter sent to him by Blatter in 2008.
In the letter, which Blatter addresses 'My dear brother', Bin Hammam highlighted a phrase in which the 75-year-old Swiss had written: "Without you, dear Mohamed, none of this would ever have been possible".
Below the letter were the words: "This is only the battle, not the war...", hinting that Bin Hammam holds Blatter at least partly responsible for his fate and laying the foundations for an all-out battle to restore his reputation.
The charges against Bin Hammam prompted him to withdraw from this year's presidential race, enabling Blatter to triumph unopposed in the June 2 election and secure a fourth consecutive term in office.
Before the hearing Bin Hammam had said that he would take his fight further if found guilty by FIFA.
"Rest assured that justice will eventually prevail whether through the FIFA ethics committee, the Court of Arbitration for Sport or if necessary, through other courts or legal proceedings in courts where we will be equal and no special privileges will be granted to either party," Bin Hammam had said. (ANI)
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