Tahiti Football Association boss Reynald Temarii banned by FIFA

By Barney Corkhill, Editor | 13 May 2015

The general director of the Tahiti FA Reynald Temarii is banned for eight years by FIFA for accepting payments from Mohamed bin Hammam in 2011.

The general director of the Tahiti Football Association Reynald Temarii has been handed an eight-year ban from the sport due to payments received from Mohamed bin Hammam.

Temarii accepted more than £215,000 from Bin Hammam in January 2011 while battling against a separate one-year ban following allegations that he asked for money in return for votes in the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

He has now been found to have violated FIFA's code of ethics for accepting Bin Hammam's money in 2011, and will not be allowed to participate in any football activity at national or international level for the next eight years.

"The adjudicatory chamber of the independent FIFA Ethics Committee, chaired by Hans-Joachim Eckert, has decided to ban Reynald Temarii, general director of the Tahiti Football Association, from taking part in any kind of football-related activity at national and international level for a period of eight years," read a statement from FIFA.

"The decision was taken following a hearing in the presence of the accused and the chairman of the investigatory chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee, Dr Cornel Borbely.

"The adjudicatory chamber has determined that Mr Temarii's conduct violated FIFA Code of Ethics articles 13 (General rules of conduct), 15 (Loyalty), 16 (Confidentiality), 19 (Conflicts of interest) and 20 (Offering and accepting gifts and other benefits) by accepting an amount of EUR 305,640 from Mr Mohamed bin Hammam, who was then a member of the FIFA Executive Committee and the AFC president, to cover the costs of his legal expenses in the context of an appeal against the previous ban imposed by the FIFA Ethics Committee on 17 November 2010.

"Mr Temarii received the money in January 2011 following a meeting with Mr Bin Hammam in November 2010 in Kuala Lumpur. The ban is effective as from 13 May 2015, the date on which the present decision was notified."

Bin Hammam himself is banned from the game for life for repeated conflicts of interest.