South Africa soccer official Kika gets FIFA six-year ban

ZURICH (Reuters) – FIFA’s Ethics Committee banned former South African Football Association official Lindile Kika from soccer activities for six years on Wednesday, adding to a string of suspensions at the sport’s governing body.

Zurich-based FIFA has been in turmoil since May over corruption allegations. But its ethics investigators are believed to regard match-fixing as the biggest threat to the sport as well as the toughest to combat.

Kika is a former head of referees and ex-member of the executive committee of the football association in South Africa, which hosted the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

The Ethics Committee said in a statement that the decision to ban him for six years was related to FIFA regulations on conduct, loyalty, duty of disclosure and other issues. It said the ban takes effect immediately. A spokesman was not authorised to discuss details.

“The proceedings against Lindile Kika were opened in November 2014 in relation to several international friendly matches played in South Africa in 2010. The investigation was led by the chairman of the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee, Dr Cornel Borbely, in collaboration with the FIFA Security Division,” the statement read.

The security division, created in 2012, is responsible for “matters related to the integrity and protection of the game itself along with matters concerning match manipulation,” according to FIFA’s website.

A previous FIFA investigation had looked into South Africa’s pre-World Cup matches against Thailand, Bulgaria, Colombia and Guatemala.

In 2012, FIFA handed SAFA a 500-page report that documented the activities of convicted Singapore-based match-fixer Wilson Perumal and his Football 4U organisation.

In May, 14 soccer officials and sports marketing executives were indicted in the United States in a criminal investigation into the allocation of media, marketing and sponsorship rights for soccer tournaments.

The scandal has spread throughout FIFA, which last Thursday handed president Sepp Blatter and UEFA president Michel Platini 90-day suspensions pending a formal investigation.

(Reporting by Joshua Franklin and Simon Evans; Editing by Hugh Lawson)