Ex-Oceania football official banned for bribery, corruption

Lausanne: Former Oceania football general secretary Tai Nicholas has been banned for eight years for misappropriating FIFA funds and bribery, the world governing body said.

The ban -- the latest in a series for the scandal-hit Oceania Football Confederation -- follows FIFA investigations into money given to build a lavish 'Home of Football' in Auckland. Nicholas, also a former FIFA standing committee member, was found guilty of misappropriating funds "as well as having offered and accepted gifts or other benefits", a FIFA statement said.

He was fined 50,000 Swiss francs ($50,000) and banned from involvement in national and international football for eight years for the breaches of FIFA's code of ethics. "The investigation into Mr. Nicholas concerned the misappropriation of FIFA funds allocated to the OFC between 2014 and 2017 in relation to the OFC Home of Football, as well as to various undue benefits accepted from or offered to several football officials and other individuals," FIFA said.

The sanction follows the demise of OFC president David Chung, who resigned last year over the Home of Football affair and was suspended by FIFA for six years in March. Also in March, FIFA suspended OFC vice-president Lee Harmon for three months after an investigation into the resale of tickets at last year's World Cup in Russia. Chung became OFC president in 2011 after his predecessor, Reynald Temarii, was suspended by FIFA for corruption.