Ex-FIFA officials Bedoya, Jadue banned for life

Former high-ranking officials Luis Bedoya and Sergio Jadue were on Friday banned for life from all football-related activities by the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA’s independent Ethics Committee.

In December, the US Department of Justice announced Bedoya and Jadue – both ex-CONMEBOL vice-presidents – had waived indictment and pleaded guilty to charges of racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy.

Their guilty pleas related to two schemes in which they asked for and received bribes from sports marketing companies in relation to the awarding of marketing rights for the Copa Libertadores and the Copa America.

The adjudicatory chamber, chaired by Mr Hans‑Joachim Eckert, accepted the recommendations of the investigatory chamber and have forbidden Jadue, also a former president of the Chilean FA, and Bedoya, a former president of the Colombian FA, from working in the game in any capacity in the future. 

A FIFA statement read: “The adjudicatory chamber found Mr Jadue and Mr Bedoya guilty of violating acts 13 (General rules of conduct), 15 (Loyalty), 18 (Duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting), 19 (Conflicts of interest) and 21 (Bribery and corruption) of the FIFA Code of Ethics. As a consequence, both officials have been banned for life from all football-related activities. 

“The bans come into force upon notification of the decisions.”