FIFA witness steps down from Bin Hammam appeal

The head of FIFA's appeals panel, Larry Mussenden, has withdrawn from a case involving Mohamed bin Hammam because he gave evidence of an alleged election bribery plot involving the Qatari official.

Bin Hammam faces a full inquiry before FIFA's ethics committee next month and wants to overturn a provisional suspension which bars the Asian Football Confederation president from all duties while the investigation continues.

FIFA says that Mussenden, a former Bermuda government attorney general, has recused himself from the appeal hearing.

Bermuda is among four Caribbean Football Union members whose officials refused $40,000 cash payments during bin Hammam's campaign visit last month to former FIFA vice president Jack Warner's native Trinidad.