FIFA suspended Caribbean football official Lisle Austin for a year Wednesday in the ongoing fallout from the presidential election bribery scandal, and banned six Hungarian and Bosnian match officials for life for helping fix international friendlies. FIFA's disciplinary committee suspended Austin, an ally of former FIFA vice president Jack Warner, for breaking rules by taking his dispute with the CONCACAF confederation to a civil court in the Bahamas. Austin can appeal. The Barbados official became acting CONCACAF president in May after FIFA provisionally suspended Warner for allegedly helping former presidential candidate Mohamed Bin Hammam bribe Caribbean voters. CONCACAF suspended Austin days later when he tried to fire Chuck Blazer, the American general secretary who had alerted FIFA to alleged bribery. Austin then obtained an injunction from a Bahamas court allowing him to resume his duties — even though FIFA and CONCACAF statutes prohibit the use of “ordinary courts” to settle disputes. In a separate ruling, the six match officials were banned for helping fix two international friendlies for a betting scam that became a turning point in the FIFA's fight against match-fixing. All seven goals were scored from penalty kicks when Latvia played Bolivia and Bulgaria faced Estonia in a Feb. 9 double-header organized by a Singaporean fixer at Antalya, Turkey. Crime syndicates are believed to have made millions of euros (dollars) betting on the fixed matches, including wagers that at least three goals would be scored in each match. Latvia beat Bolivia 2-1 and Estonia and Bulgaria played out a 2-2 draw. FIFA identified the officials as Kolos Lengyel, Janos Csak and Krisztian Selmeczi from Hungary, and Bosnians Sinisa Zrnic, Kenan Bajramovic, Rizah Ridalovic.
