FIFA bans ex-Botswana official for life

GENEVA: FIFA has banned the former general secretary of the Botswana Football Association for life for taking bribes in relation to match fixing, world football’s governing body announced on Monday. In a statement, FIFA said judges from its independent ethics body found Mooketsi Kgotlele “guilty of having accepted bribes in relation to the manipulation of international matches”. Few details of the alleged misconduct were available immediately, but FIFA said it had launched a probe against Kgotlele in September. The allegations against him “stem from an extensive investigation into various attempts to manipulate international matches for betting purposes by Mr Wilson Raj Perumal, a known matchfixer,” FIFA said. Perumal was arrested and jailed in Finland in 2011 for fixing top-tier football games there. He later collaborated with match fixing investigators. In addition to a lifetime ban, FIFA fined Kgotlele 50,000 Swiss francs ($51,000, 45,000 euros). —AFP