DUBAI, July 17: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have suspended former President Mohamed Bin Hammam after a lengthy audit of their accounts revealed fresh allegations of financial wrongdoing, the body said on Tuesday.

Bin Hammam, who is fighting a life ban by football’s world governing body FIFA for bribery, was suspended for 30 days by the AFC, following an external audit of the confederation’s financial accounts.

The governing body in Asia said he had been suspended for “events surrounding the negotiation and execution of certain contracts and with the financial transactions made in and out of AFC bank accounts and his personal account during the tenure of Bin Hammam’s presidency.”

Bin Hammam is suspended “from taking part in any kind of football activity in the area of jurisdiction of the AFC until the AFC Disciplinary Committee reaches a decision on the merits in the present matter,” it added.

The statement said the alleged infringements included violations of AFC statutes on ethics, corruption, conflicts of interest, bribery and accepting gifts and other benefits.

The fresh allegations look likely to complicate Bin Hammam’s efforts to regain leadership of the AFC. He was sidelined by the body last year and replaced on an interim basis by Zhang Jilong, China’s former football boss.

Bin Hammam challenged Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency last year. He withdrew his candidacy, and was then provisionally suspended, days before the June election over allegations that he had tried to buy the votes of Caribbean officials by handing them $40,000 each in brown envelopes.

Blatter was subsequently re-elected unopposed for a fourth term as FIFA president, while Bin Hammam was found guilty of breaking seven articles of FIFA’s ethics code.—Reuters