FIFA bans Indian official

World governing football body FIFA banned Indian footballing official Alberto Colaco from the sport for three years on Thursday. Colaco had been the former general secretary of India's national football federation, known as the AIFF.

A sub-committee of the FIFA ethics committee, led by Hans-Joachim Eckert, found Colaco guilty of accepting "a payment in the context of the elections for the FIFA Executive Committee at the AFC Congress in May 2009," according to a statement.

Colaco's ban, which applies to all football activity at national and international level, starts immediately.

Meanwhile, pressure is continuing to mount on FIFA to make public a report by lawyer Michael Garcia on corruption surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids.

The British government wrote to FIFA President Sepp Blatter this week calling for the release of the full investigation. The English FA's conduct in bidding for the 2018 World Cup was criticized in Eckert's report.

The secret report

A criminal investigation into allegations of World Cup bidding corruption could also be opened in Britain, with authorities urging whistleblowers to come forward with information.

The UK's Serious Fraud Office is pursuing "every reasonable line of inquiry, including working closely with appropriate overseas authorities," the government department said, according to a letter sent to a British legislator.

The Swiss attorney general has also already received a criminal complaint from FIFA against possible law-breaking by unnamed individuals mentioned in the report.

Although the Swiss authorities have a full copy of the bid probe, the 430-page report remains secret, with only a 42-page summary judgment from FIFA ethics judge Joachim Eckert having been published.

al/ksb (AFP, AP, dpa)