Ethics Committee bans former football officials
The adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee, chaired by Mr Hans‑Joachim Eckert, has banned Mr Sergio Jadue, former Vice-President of CONMEBOL, former President of the Chilean FA and former member of the FIFA Associations Committee, and Mr Luis Bedoya, former FIFA Executive Committee member, former Vice-President of CONMEBOL and former President of the Colombian FA, for life from all football-related activities (administrative, sports or any other) at both national and international level.
The investigations against Mr Jadue and Mr Bedoya were opened on 4 December 2015 and conducted by Dr Cornel Borbély, chairman of the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee, based on a press release from the United States Department of Justice on 3 December 2015, according to which both officials waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a two-count information charging them with racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy.
Their guilty pleas related to two schemes by means of which they asked for and received bribes from sports marketing companies in relation to the awarding of marketing rights for the CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores tournament as well as the CONMEBOL/CONCACAF Copa América Centenario and CONMEBOL Copa América tournament.
The adjudicatory chamber found Mr Jadue and Mr Bedoya guilty of violating arts 13 (General rules of conduct), 15 (Loyalty), 18 (Duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting), 19 (Conflicts of interest) and 21 (Bribery and corruption) of the FIFA Code of Ethics. As a consequence, both officials have been banned for life from all football-related activities.
The bans come into force upon notification of the decisions.