Bin Hamman launches appeal

Former FIFA executive Mohamed Bin Hammam has called the decision to ban him for life "deeply flawed" but believes trying to clear his name may prove difficult in the face of "tactical games" from the governing body as he launched his formal appeal.

The Asian Football Confederation president was last month found guilty of charges that he attempted to bribe members of the Caribbean Football Union at a meeting on the FIFA presidential campaign trail in Trinidad in May and the 62-year-old was given a lifetime ban from the sport.

Having received FIFA's reasoning for his suspension, he has claimed in a statement on his official website that the governing body's "abuse of power" could delay his appeal. He wrote: "On Thursday, 18 August 2011, FIFA issued the motivated decisions of the Ethics Committee almost a month after the Ethics Committee decided to ban me for life."

He added: "Since then, I have submitted my case to the FIFA Appeals Committee, not hoping for justice to prevail but as a protocol to enable me to obtain access to the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS).

"After all, the panel from the Appeals Committee is decided by my opponent and in this case, as previously, the judge is the rival. Therefore, I should not exaggerate my hope for a fair decision.

"Going through the motivated decisions, we found them to be deeply flawed and raises grave doubts on whether any decision-making body of FIFA has sufficient independence to ensure a fair decision based solely on evidences and applicable laws.

"Based on our experiences, we expect the appeal process and decision to take approximately two months, not because this time is necessarily needed but more due to FIFA's tactical games and abuse of power, as evident throughout this case."

Bin Hammam also added that FIFA suspended him without having evidence to back up their allegations against him, and alleges they have attempted to delay his right of appeal.

He believes that his chances of having the decision overturned remain slim, but has vowed to carry on regardless. He said: "When I was suspended on 29 May on charges of bribery and vote buying, it was supposedly based on strong evidences in the investigation conducted by Collins and Collins and directed by Jerome Valcke and Chuck Blazer.

"Yet despite the alleged strong evidences conclusive enough to justify my suspension and deprived me of going to the Congress and running as a FIFA Presidential candidate surprisingly enough, FIFA went for another investigation again, this time by Freeh group, to look for evidences which they never had in the first instance to suspend me."