Former Liberia FA president Musa Bility has been banned from all soccer-related activities for 10 years at national and international level for misappropriation of funds, offering and accepting gifts and other benefits and conflicts of interest, the world football governing body FIFA said on Wednesday.
Along with the ban, which comes into immediate effect, former Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) executive committee member Bility was also fined 500,000 Swiss francs ($507,200).
In a statement, FIFA says its investigation against Bility was opened last May after a forensic audit of Liberian soccer federation (LFA) accounts.
FIFA found “various payments made by the LFA to (and received from) entities owned by or connected to Mr Bility and his family.”
This includes money from the “11 against Ebola” campaign, launched by FIFA in 2014 to help combat the spread of the deadly disease across Liberia and the rest of West Africa.
It featured top players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar who promoted preventative measures which can help against the virus.
Bility’s ban comes days after he filed a case against FIFA and CAF at the Court of Arbitration for Sports.
The 52-year-old administrator made history in 2015 to become the first African candidate for FIFA’s top job since Confederation of African Football President Issa Hayatou lost to Blatter in 2002 in a display of his usual ease with standing up for what he believes in.
His reasons for running for the top job were largely driven by his desire that Africa should take its place in the global football conversation.
However, Bility did not pass the check and was declared not eligible to stand, but FIFA failed to make the reasons for his exclusion public.
Bility was a key figure in 2017’s CAF elections campaigns and was among Ahmad’s devotees who brought shock and embarrassing end to Issa Hayatou’s close to three decades stronghold on African football.
When he took the reins of the Liberian Federation, the Lone Stars were ranked 160th in the world but the team broke into the top 100 three years later – for the first time since George Weah, the legendary player who is now the country’s president, retired in the early 2000s.
