The adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee, under its chairman Hans-Joachim Eckert, has opened formal adjudicatory proceedings against the former president of the Costa Rican Football Association, Eduardo Li, and the former president of the Guatemalan Football Association, Brayan Jiménez, based on the final reports submitted by the investigatory chamber.

The investigations concerning Mr Li and Mr Jiménez were conducted by Dr Cornel Borbély, chairman of the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee and the chief of investigation, and focused on allegedly illegal payments that the two officials received from sports marketing companies. In this context, on 29 July 2016, Mr Jiménez entered a guilty plea to one count of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of wire fraud conspiracy at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York. On 7 October 2016, Mr Li also pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy, one count of wire fraud and one count of wire fraud conspiracy at the same court.

In his two final reports, which were passed to the adjudicatory chamber on 8 February 2017, Dr Borbély recommended imposing on both Mr Li and Mr Jiménez a lifelong ban on taking part in any kind of football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other) for the alleged violation of articles 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.

In connection with the present proceedings, Mr Li and Mr Jiménez have been provided with the relevant final reports and have been invited to submit their position including any evidence with regard to content therein (art. 70 of the FIFA Code of Ethics) and may request a hearing (art. 74 par. 2 of the FIFA Code of Ethics).

For reasons linked to privacy rights and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, the adjudicatory chamber will not publish further details at the present time.