Former Super Eagles coach Samson Siasia on Monday filed a lawsuit in New York Federal court against the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) after he was convicted of bribery.
Siasia insists the world soccer ruling body ran afoul of his constitutional rights after he was convicted of bribery.
The 53-year-old claimed only the US Government can charge him .
The former Nigeria international was initially sanctioned in 2019 by FIFA for agreeing to “receive bribes in relation to the manipulation of matches.”
But after he appealed against the life-ban, it was reduced to five years by the Court of Arbitration for Sports.
However, Siasia wants his conviction overturned, the $50,000 fine he paid returned, his five-year coaching ban reversed and damages awarded for the alleged civil rights violations, according to the Atlanta resident’s court papers.
“In convicting Siasia of bribery, FIFA relied on Swiss bribery law. If any crime was committed, only the FBI or Georgia State Police could investigate and bring charges of commercial bribery,” his suit says, adding that “Georgia does not criminalize commercial bribery.”
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Siasia said FIFA violated his rights to due process under the Fifth and 14th Amendments when it convicted him for his minor role in a wide-ranging conspiracy to fix hundreds of matches by paying off corrupt players and officials.
His suit also stated that FIFA’s imposing the fine and revoking his license constituted “cruel and unusual punishment” barred by the Eighth Amendment.
The coach was licensed through the United States Soccer Federation, a FIFA affiliate, in 2009.
A year later, convicted match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal offered Siasia a coaching job in Australia where he would “play along” and “close one eye” to Perumal’s dealings, the suit says.
In emails sent from Atlanta, Siasia expressed interest, and the two went back and forth on terms but ultimately went their separate ways, according to court papers.
FIFA learned about the messages during a Finnish probe into Perumal and charged Siasia in 2019, yet it failed to properly notify him, his suit says.
“Siasia was not aware of the bribery charge for which that FIFA indicted him until FIFA published to the whole world in or around August 16, 2019, FIFA’s conviction and imposition of a life ban on Siasia from using the coach license issued under the laws of the United States,” the suit says.
4 Comments
Why is he turning back to sue Fifa. We will see how this works out.
If Siasia is convinced he is innocent, then he should go for it though I put no trust on this world justice system. Truth is, if I were him, I’ d rather stayed silent n watch, going on to quietly do something else. I believe only in God’s justice.
This siasia no shame, a bribe taker, he should be banned for life. Ozuor.
Wow….If I understand this piece right, Siasia’s argument is that “only the US Government can charge him”, that “only the FBI or Georgia State Police could investigate and bring charges of commercial bribery” and that ” the state of Georgia does not criminalize commercial bribery”.
One would suppose he was suing for outright innocence in the matter or for wrongful conviction etc….but these sound more like appealing to technicalities to me. Hmmm…this is becoming rather interesting. May God keep us all live to see the end of this case.
I guess Mr. Siasia made a lot of money from donors that he has excess left to spend on court cases. This case of Siasia vs FIFA will go down in history as an epic case to be taught even in law schools. I wish him all the best though. May the best team win.