Nigerian former international referee Ibrahim Chaibou has been banned for life time by FIFA, for violation of the FIFA Code of Ethics, after he was tried and found guilty of accepting bribery on numerous occasions in the past. The world football’s governing body has also fined the African 200,000 Swiss francs for the corruption.
Chaibou was in charge of some friendly international games from 2010 to 2011, and it was in those fixtures that the Nigerian had committed the fraud. Earlier this week, FIFA’s adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee upon investigation found Chaibou guilty of accepting bribery and decided to take strict action against him.
Chaibou frequently extended the allotted stoppage time and handed multiple penalties for often random handballs especially late in the stoppage time to alter the outcome of certain games played in Africa, the Middle East and South America.
“Chaibou was probably the most corrupt referee the game of football has seen,” former FIFA investigator Chris Eaton, who opened FIFA’s investigation of Chaibou before leaving in 2012, told The Associated Press on Thursday.
An official statement from FIFA said:
“As a consequence, Mr Chaibou has been banned for life from all football-related activities (administrative, sports or any other) at both national and international level. Additionally, a fine in the amount of CHF 200,000 has been imposed on Mr Chaibou.”
Following the investigation and the unearthing of Chaibou’s wrongdoings, FIFA changed their policies of appointing referees for games, albeit 8 years late.
