ZURICH: FIFA presidential candidate and former vice-president Chung Mong-joon has said he will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after he was banned for six years by the ethics committee of football’s world governing body on Thursday.

The South Korean described the ruling in a statement on Friday as a “shameful attempt” to punish his open criticism of FIFA, which is mired in the worst corruption scandal in its 111-year history, and said it was a blatant miscarriage of justice.

CAS is sport’s highest tribunal.

Chung said he had been banned for what he called “vague articles” in the FIFA code of ethics relating to matters such as “duty of disclosure” and “confidentiality”.

However, allegations of vote-trading had been dropped, he said. “Both allegations for which the investigation against me were initiated have now been dropped,” he said.

“The Ethics Committee is sanctioning me not for my alleged violations of “vote-trading”, “the appearance of offering a benefit” and personal donations, but for my criticisms of the Ethics Committee and my attitude during the investigation,” said Chung.

“There is no clearer proof than this that the whole investigation has been a political ploy from the beginning.”

He added that “the investigation into my alleged violations has been fundamentally flawed and was merely an attempt to sabotage my candidacy for FIFA President”.

Chung concluded that the ruling had “completely undermined the legitimacy and fairness of the next FIFA presidential election.”

He also said he would take legal action against the Ethics Committee “for damaging my reputation.”

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2015

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