Ex-head sues football body

ROSEAU – Former president of the Dominica Football Association (DFA) Patrick John has sued the association over his suspension in the wake of FIFA’s bribes-for-votes scandal.
John has filed a lawsuit against the DFA seeking more than EC$100  000 (BDS$74 000) in lost wages and allowances.
He is also asking the court to reinstall him as president of DFA so that he can finish his term which would have expired July 2015.
In 2011, John was banned by the FIFA disciplinary committee for two years and later a DFA conference voted unanimously to suspend him for the remainder of his term.
In the suit, filed by lawyer J. Gildon Richards, John challenged the suspension, labelling it as “disciplinary action made in total disregard and abrogation of the rules and procedures prescribed by the constitution of the DFA”.
John, a former Prime Minister of Dominica, claims that the DFA’s decision and its wide publication caused him to suffer “much physical stress, psychological and emotional distress . . .”.
John found himself in hot water with FIFA who had initially charged him for accepting US$40 000 in cash to support Mohamed bin Hammam in an election campaign against president Sepp Blatter.
However, last month, the Court of Arbitration for Sport cancelled hearings after John withdrew his appeal against a new FIFA charge which instead found him guilty of infringing its statutes. (CMC)