FIFA announces lengthy ban for former Oceania Football Confederation President

World football’s governing body FIFA has handed former Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) President David Chung a six-and-a-half-year ban, with the former FIFA Executive Committee member becoming the latest senior official to be sanctioned in the wake of the US and Swiss probes into corruption in the world game.

The adjudicatory chamber of FIFA’s independent Ethics Committee has found Chung, former President of the Papua New Guinea Football Association, guilty of having offered and accepted gifts, as well as having acted under a conflict of interest, in violation of the FIFA Code of Ethics.

Investigations against Chung commencing in April last year when the OFC launched an internal investigation and forensic audit following his abrupt resignation of Chung from his OFC role.

The Papua New Guinea official, who had led the OFC since 2011, cited personal reasons for his resignation, which was with immediate effect.

Chung also stepped down as a senior vice-president and FIFA Council member, as the world governing body revealed that an audit of the OFC had found “potential irregularities” with a US$20 million project for the construction of its new headquarters in Auckland, with funding cut to the continental body.

Chung was not directly accused of wrongdoing by FIFA at the time, but he has now been banned from all football-related activities at both national and international level, and issued a fine of CHF 100,000 (US$100,000).

Chung’s punishment means that since the emergence of the FIFA corruption case in May 2015, five of its eight vice-presidents at the time, as well as President Sepp Blatter and Secretary General Jérôme Valcke, have been banned for unethical financial conduct or resigned while under criminal investigation.