March 20 – Musa Bility, former president of the Liberian Football Federation suspended for 10 years by FIFA for corruption, has had his hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) postponed due the coronavirus.
Bility’s appeal was to be heard on March 27, but the hearing has been delayed and “no new date has been set yet,” CAS general secretary Matthieu Reeb told AFP.
“We offer videoconferences but it is not always ideal and there are beginning to be postponements, like the one concerning Musa Bility, for example,” he added.
The postponement is a blow for the colourful and controversial Bility since the Confederation of African Football (CAF) is due to hold elections to replace him on its executive committee in on April 24.
Last August, football’s world governing body found Bility “guilty of having misappropriated FIFA funds, as well as having received benefits and found himself in situations of conflict of interest.”
While the verdict banning Bility was delivered by the Adjudicatory Chamber of FIFA’s Ethics Committee on 12 February 2019, it took over five months for the ban to be imposed.
Bility is a strong critic of under-fire CAF boss Ahmad Ahmad whom he has accused of serious financial misdemeanours.
Whilst repeatedly denying any wrongdoing of his own, last month he said evidence contained an independent audit of CAF finances for the period 2017 to 2019 “can only be compared to crimes against humanity.”
He further talked of “daylight robbery of CAFs and Africans football future” with “tens of millions” being spent – largely in cash – without any supporting documentation.
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