Disgraced former
FIFA official Jack Warner has been banned from football for life by world
soccer's governing body.
The former FIFA vice-president quit football four years ago amid
a string of corruption allegations and is facing fraud charges as part of a
United States investigation.
FIFA's Ethics
Committee handed down the ban to Warner, who served as president of the
Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football
(CONCACAF) between 1990 and 2011.
It comes after criminal proceedings were opened
against FIFA president Sepp Blatter on Friday by Swiss authorities.
It is investigating a contract signed with the Caribbean
Football Union, then run by Warner, that was deemed "unfavorable for
FIFA" and an alleged "disloyal payment" of two million Swiss
francs (about $2 million) to Michel Platini, the head of European football body
UEFA, made in 2011.
All three men
deny any wrongdoing.
"Mr Warner
was found to have committed many and various acts of misconduct continuously
and repeatedly during his time as an official in different high-ranking and
influential positions at FIFA and CONCACAF," a FIFA statement said.
"In his positions
as a football official, he was a key player in schemes involving the offer,
acceptance, and receipt of undisclosed and illegal payments, as well as other
money-making schemes."
It said the ban was
effective from September 25, the date on which the decision was made.
Warner was arrested in
May in his native Trinidad and Tobago after the U.S. attorney Loretta Lynch
accused him and a clutch of current or former FIFA officials of running a
"rampant, systemic and deep-rooted" racket.
Warner quit FIFA in
2011 after he was suspended pending a bribery inquiry. After his resignation,
FIFA said the investigation had been closed and "the presumption of
innocence is maintained."
FIFA was plunged into
crisis in late May when seven officials were charged by the FBI with
racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering.
The charges are part
of a U.S. prosecution that indicted a total of 14 people from around the globe.
In further
developments on Tuesday, Switzerland said it had approved the extradition of
Eduardo Li -- former president of the Costa Rican Football Federation and one
of those arrested -- to the United States.
Li is accused of taking bribes in connection with the sale of
marketing rights for World Cup 2018 qualifiers to a U.S. sports marketing
company. He has 30 days to appeal the decision.
Meanwhile, a
separate probe by Swiss authorities is investigating potential corruption into
the bidding process for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, which will be hosted
by Russia and Qatar.
FIFA Secretary
General Jerome Valcke was suspended earlier in September, while the
organization investigates allegations he participated in a scheme to profit off
the sale of World Cup tickets on the black market.
Valcke has been
relieved of his duties until further notice.
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