President of ANFA Ganesh Thapa banned for 10 years by FIFA

Kathmandu November 17- All Nepal Football Association (Anfa) President Ganesh Thapa—the former Nepali national team striker and one of the most influential figures in Asian football—was suspended on Monday for 10 years from all national and international football activities on bribery and corruption charges.

The Adjudicatory Chamber of the Independent Ethics Committee of the world football governing body Fifa on Monday imposed the suspension with immediate effect and a fine of 20,000 Swiss Francs. Thapa is also under investigation by local authorities on embezzling millions of dollars meant for football development in the country.

“Mr Thapa, in the context of the 2009 and 2011 elections for the Fifa Executive Committee at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) congress, committed various acts of misconduct over several years, including the solicitation and acceptance of cash payments from another football official, for both personal and family gain,” the Ethics Committee said in a statement.

The football’s world governing body has found him guilty of infringing article 13 (General rules of conduct), article 15 (Loyalty), article 18 (Duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting), article 19 (Conflicts of interest), article 20 (Offering and accepting gifts and other benefits) and article 21 (Bribery and corruption) of the Fifa Code of Ethics.

“Mr Thapa has therefore been banned for 10 years from all football-related activities and fined Swiss Francs 20,000,” the  panel stated.