Fifa bans Kalusha for accepting bribes
By Staff Reporter
World soccer governing body Fifa have banned Caf executive committee member Kalusha Bwalya from all football-related activities for two years over accepting illegal payments from former Asian football chief Mohammed bin Hammam.
According to goal.com, Bwalya, the former Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) president, was among a host of African football officials caught in the storm of Bin Hammam’s bribery allegations.
Fifa investigations found Bwalya guilty of violating the ethics code by accepting improper payments totalling $80, 000 from Bin Hammam in 2009 and 2011 for FAZ and personal expenditure.
In 2013, the UK’s Sunday Times newspaper published a story where Kalusha was particularly named of having received US $80, 000 from Bin Hammam to influence the 2022 World Cup bid as well as support the Qatari’s bid to challenge Sepp Blatter in the 2011 FIFA elections.
Kalusha later admitted to receiving the funds claiming it was a debt advanced to the Zambian soccer association.
However, a check in the FAZ financial statements revealed that no such debt was recorded as income on the part of the association.
The Sunday Times report published electronic mail (e-mail) correspondence between Kalusha and Bin Hammam’s officials detailing the exchanges.
According to the Sunday Times, a series of leaked emails suggested that Bin Hammam paid $5 million to raise the Arab country’s chances of hosting the 2022 World Cup.
The newspaper released more than 30 leaked emails out of hundreds of millions of documents it says it obtained, some of which point to evidence of alleged ‘slush funds’ that apparently helped Qatar win its bid.
