Najeeb Chirakal, a former aide of disgraced former Presidential candidate Mohamed bin Hammam, has been banned from football for life ©Getty Images

Najeeb Chirakal, a former aide of disgraced former Presidential candidate Mohamed bin Hammam, has been banned from football for life by the FIFA Ethics Committee.

The Adjudicatory Chamber revealed Chirakal had been “involved in several unethical payments made on behalf of a third party to various football officials between 2009 and 2011”.

World football’s governing body also ruled he had “had failed to collaborate in various ethics proceedings”.

He was found guilty of committing several breaches of FIFA’s Code of Ethics, including bribery and corruption, duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting and conflicts of interest.

Chirakal was also found to have violated the offering and accepting gifts and other benefits, obligation of the parties to collaborate and general obligation to collaborate statutes of the ethics code.

The Investigatory Chamber had recommended a life ban for Chirakal and the Adjudicatory Chamber have agreed.

Their report was delivered to the Adjudicatory Chamber on November 2, before proceedings were formally opened on November 14.

Najeeb Chirakal was a key aide of Mohamed Bin Hammam, who unsuccessfully challenged Sepp Blatter for the FIFA Presidency in 2011 ©Getty Images
Najeeb Chirakal was a key aide of Mohamed Bin Hammam, who unsuccessfully challenged Sepp Blatter for the FIFA Presidency in 2011 ©Getty Images

The Indian official was previously suspended by FIFA in 2012 for failing to collaborate with an investigation into Bin Hammam, the former Asian Football Confederation (AFC) chief banned for bribery by FIFA ahead of the Presidential elections five years ago, when he was standing against Sepp Blatter.

Bin Hammam, who withdrew three days before the Presidential vote, was alleged to have offered money to several Caribbean Football Union members in an attempt to win their support.

The Qatari was banned for life in 2011 for his part in the cash-for-votes scandal, but later had this annulled at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) who found "insufficient evidence" to support the sanction.

He was banned for life again by FIFA in December 2012, supposedly for "conflicts of interest" in his role as AFC President.

Following an audit by accountancy firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Chirakal was identified as the middle man for Asian and African officials who were seeking cash from Bin Hammam.

“The adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee, chaired by Hans-Joachim Eckert, has decided to ban the football official Najeeb Chirakal for life from taking part in any kind of football-related activity at national and international level,” a FIFA statement read.

Chikaral’s life ban comes into effect immediately.