Bowen was found guilty by the world governing body of breaching article 13 (General rules of conduct) of the FIFA Code of Ethics after he did not fill out the mandatory declaration of integrity truthfully when bidding to be elected as a member of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.

He is therefore banned from taking part in "any kind of football-related activity at national and international level for a period of three years".

The ban was made via a statement on the FIFA website after the "Adjudicatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee was unable to reach Mr Bowen via his last known postal address and he also did not reply to any emails during the entire adjudicatory proceedings."

FIFA did not specify details of which incidents Bowen failed to declare honestly.

A report in the Oceania media from September 2013 did claim, however, that a fax was sent to Bowen on July 9, 2013, signed by Benoît Pasquier, former deputy secretary of the Investigation Chamber of the Ethics cCommittee of FIFA, indicating that an investigation procedure had been opened against Bowen "in relation to the Statement of Integrity sent [by Bowen] on April 11, 2013".

This statement of integrity can only be signed by an officer who has never been sentenced to a penalty for very serious intentional crime or an offence corresponding to a violation of the code of ethics of FIFA, the report claimed.

The Adjudicatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee, chaired by Hans-Joachim Eckert, has banned the former President of the New Caledonia Football Federation Edmond Bowen ©Getty Images



This investigation came just before the 63rd FIFA Congress in Mauritius, during which Bowen was re-elected to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.

Three years previous, in December 2010, Bowen had received a one year suspended prison sentence and a sentence of bankruptcy for 10 years, and 36 months of probation.

The following year he was elected President of the New Caledonia Football Federation.

In 2007, when he was President of New Caledonian football team AS Magenta, Bowen was also allegedly sentenced for death threats against a part of the municipality of Noumea, capital of New Caledonia.

Following the news Gordon Glen Watson, head of communications at the Ocean Football Confederation (OCF), said the organisation supported FIFA's decision and welcomed transparency but would make no further comment.

"The position that the OFC takes is that, in terms of Edmond Bowen, we're supportive of the due process that's been followed," Watson told Fairfax Media.

"If there's been any issue there that has had to result in his banning then we trust that process.

"That's why the process is there, if there's wrongdoing then our position is of course, these things have to be dealt with in an open and transparent manner."

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