Three more FIFA officials are sanctioned
FIFA has added three more names to the growing list of football officials who have been sanctioned for unethical behavior. Two Congolese officials have been suspended while the Spanish Football Association President has been issued with a fine and a warning.
FIFA’s independent ethics committee issued the sanctions on Friday as part of an ongoing process to sweep corruption out of football’s world governing body.
Jean Guy Blaise Mayolas, Vice-President of the Congolese Football Association (FECOFOOT) has been banned from football activity for six months along with the association’s Secretary-General Badji Mombo Wantete. They were both found guilty of bribery offences by the ethics committee.
Spanish Football Association President Angel Maria Villar Llona, who is also a FIFA Vice-President, was fined CHF25,000 ($24,900) and warned after breaching FIFA’s general rules of conduct in connection to a previous probe of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids.
FIFA’s ethics committee gave no further details of what Villar did wrong, but he was not investigated for bribery.
Working conditions
In a separate matter, it emerged on Friday that the Swiss National Contact Point (NCP) has agreed to mediate between FIFA and an NGO that has complained about conditions for workers preparing for the World Cup tournament in Qatar.
The NCP is a global mediation mechanism run by each member of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The Swiss NCP was asked to intervene in the Qatar complaint by the Geneva-based Building and Wood Worker’s International (BWI) movement.
BWI is among a number of NGOs that have complained to FIFA about alleged dangerous conditions for mainly foreign workers constructing stadiums and other infrastructure for the World Cup tournament to be held in Qatar in 2022.
Because Qatar is not an OECD signatory, the Swiss NCP can mediate because FIFA is based in Switzerland and is deemed to be involved in commercial activities in Qatar.
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