AFC continue investigation into Hammam\'s case

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) are continuing their investigation into sidelined president Mohamed Bin Hammam despite his provisional suspension ending on Tuesday. The AFC are investigating claims of financial wrongdoing by Bin Hammam during his tenure. The regional governing body, which Bin Hammam headed for nearly a decade, provisionally suspended the Qatari for 30 days on July 16 and then invoked a one-time clause which allowed them to extend that ban by 20 days last month. Despite the suspension ending, the 63-year-old Qatari remains banned from taking part in any soccer related activity because of a 90-day ban handed out by world governing body FIFA on July 26, the AFC said in a statement released on Wednesday. FIFA handed Bin Hammam a life ban for bribery during his failed bid to become president of world soccer’s governing body last year but the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned that ruling on July 19. FIFA then slapped the 90-day suspension on Bin Hammam after CAS said the decision was not “an affirmative finding of innocence” for the Qatari, and that the case could be re-opened with new evidence. Bin Hammam has denied the charges levelled by the AFC and FIFA and said he would announce further steps to challenge ‘this clear abuse of power and process at the hand of FIFA’. Zhang Jilong has headed the AFC while Bin Hammam has been banned.