MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th November, 2020) The adjudicatory chamber of FIFA's independent Ethics Committee on Wednesday found Yves Jean-Bart, the president of the Haitian Football Association (FHF) for 20 years, guilty of sexual abuse against female players �including some who were underage � sanctioned him with a life ban from any football-related activities and fined him 1 million Swiss francs ($1,097,827).
In late April, The Guardian newspaper reported, citing numerous sources, that several young female football players accused the federation chief of coercion to sex at Haiti's national training center. Jean-Bart, who publicly denied the allegations as politically motivated, was prosecuted by the Haitian judicial system, which acquitted him on Wednesday. However, FIFA launched its independent investigation and found Jean-Bart guilty.
"In its decision, the adjudicatory chamber found that Mr Jean-Bart had breached art. 23 (Protection of physical and mental integrity) and art. 25 (Abuse of position) of the FIFA Code of Ethics and sanctioned him with a life ban from all football-related activities (administrative, sports or any other) at both national and international level. In addition, a fine in the amount of CHF 1,000,000 has been imposed on Mr Jean-Bart," a statement published on FIFA's site read.
FIFA found out that Jean-Bart committed acts of systematic sexual abuse between 2014 and 2020. The decision was delivered to the former chief of the FHF on Friday. FIFA is still investigating other officials of the FHF who were allegedly involved in the case.
This is not the first high-profile case involving allegations of sexual assault and harassment by top football officials in the FIFA system. In 2019, Ahmad Ahmad, the president of the Confederation of African Football and a vice president of FIFA, was subject to a probe for multiple allegations, including those of sexual assault. The official denied any wrongdoing, but the investigation is still ongoing.
