Zurich, Switzerland, Jan. 20 (Sports Network) - The FIFA Disciplinary Committee, under the chairmanship of Marcel Mathier (Switzerland), has suspended the President of the Somali Football Federation, Farah Weheliye Addo, from all activities in FIFA for a period of two years, it was announced Monday.
The sanction comes as a result of statements from the Somali official that appeared in the media in February 2002, citing irregular financial practices that were intended to assist the election of Joseph S. Blatter to the FIFA Presidency in 1998, making accusations against FIFA Executive Committee member Mohamed Bin Hammam (Qatar) and, by implication, calling the integrity of the FIFA President himself into question. Invited by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee to produce evidence of his allegations, Mr Addo was unable to do so, presenting only a photo of Mohamed Bin Hammam at the centre of a group of people who, according to the President of the Somali Football Federation, had signed a declaration to confirm they had received payment from Mr. Bin Hammam in exchange for their votes for presidential candidate Blatter. The Disciplinary Committee did not receive a copy of the said declaration. By making unfounded allegations of unethical conduct against a member of the executive body of FIFA, Farah Weheliye Addo undermined the interests of football as a whole, thus violating article 2 of the FIFA Statutes.The suspension applies from January 20, 2003.

Source: Sports Network, Jan 20, 03