FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football – Official Draw for the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2018 – Zurich, Switzerland – September 4, 2018 General view of the FIFA logo before the start of the draw REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
(Reuters) – Former Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) general secretary Tai Nicholas has been banned from all soccer-related activities for eight years for financial misconduct, world soccer governing body FIFA said on Thursday.
Nicholas, a former member of FIFA’s standing committee, was also fined 50,000 Swiss francs ($49,554).
“The investigation into Mr Nicholas concerned the misappropriation of FIFA funds allocated to the OFC between 2014 and 2017 in relation to the OFC Home of Football,” FIFA said in a statement.
“As a result Mr Nicholas has been sanctioned with a ban from taking part in any kind of football-related activity at national and international level (administrative, sports or any other) for eight years.”
FIFA said Nicholas had violated Article 21 of its Code of Ethics, which deals with bribery and corruption, as well as Article 20, which sets out rules governing the offering and accepting of gifts and other benefits.
($1 = 1.0090 Swiss francs)
Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Simon Jennings
