February 15 – Olympic powerbroker Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah (pictured), once a major player at FIFA, will go on trial in Switzerland this month in a long-standing forgery case linked to Kuwait’s royal family.
Sheikh Ahmad, for years one of world football politics’ most formidable and influential figures, will attend the hearing listed by a criminal court in Geneva to run from February 22-26, according to The Associated Press.
“He is absolutely determined to obtain a full acquittal and is confident about the positive outcome of the case,” Geneva legal firm RVMH said in a statement to AP.
In April 2017, Sheikh Ahmad resigned from the FIFA Council after being drawn into the widespread corruption scandal to hit the game’s governing body.
The sheikh, who had been seeking re-election, was suspected of being a co-conspirator in the case of disgraced Guam football FA boss Richard Lai. He denied any wrongdoing and US prosecutors have not charged him with any crimes.
The following year he was forced to step aside from his International Olympic Committee duties pending the outcome of the Swiss forgery case in which he has been indicted with four others and which relates to a video involving a purported plot to overthrow the Kuwaiti government.
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