FIFA investigators have called for three African former football officials to be banned for alleged ethics violations. They have passed on their findings to FIFA’s adjudicatory chamber for a ruling.
The investigatory chamber of FIFA’s independent Ethics Committee said in a statement posted on the website of world football’s governing body on Wednesday that it was recommending bans for the trio over their alleged conduct in organizing friendly matches in South Africa in 2010.
It said the chamber was seeking a six-year ban for former South Africa Football Association President Kirsten Nematandani, as well as lifelong bans for former Zimbabwe Football Association executive Jonathan Musavengana and the former coach of Togo, Bana Tchanile.
The most prominent of the three, Nematandani, was put on “special leave” in December 2012 following a FIFA report into match-fixing. However he was reinstated one month later without having been cleared of any wrongdoing. He later left the South African FA.
Tchanile was already banned from football for three years by Togo’s FA after he took a team masquerading as the country’s national side to play a friendly with Bahrain in 2010.
Musavengana was penalized by the Zimbabwean FA over alleged match-fixing in 2012.
The investigatory chamber’s probes into the conduct of the three individuals focused on friendlies that South Africa played against Thailand, Bulgaria, Colombia and Guatemala ahead of the 2010 World Cup.
Investigators have now passed on their report to the Ethics Committee’s adjudicatory chamber for a ruling.
pfd/rd (AP, AFP, Reuters)
