FIFA hands life ban to former Botswana football official Mooketsi Kgotlele over bribery charges

Geneva: FIFA has banned the former general secretary of the Botswana Football Association for life for taking bribes in relation to match fixing, world football’s governing body announced on Monday. In a statement, FIFA said judges from its independent ethics body found Mooketsi Kgotlele “guilty of having accepted bribes in relation to the manipulation of international matches”. [caption id=“attachment_2781180” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Getty Images[/caption] Few details of the alleged misconduct were available immediately, but FIFA said it had launched a probe against Kgotlele in September. The allegations against him “stem from an extensive investigation into various attempts to manipulate international matches for betting purposes by Mr Wilson Raj Perumal, a known match-fixer,” FIFA said. Perumal was arrested and jailed in Finland in 2011 for fixing top-tier football games there. He later collaborated with match fixing investigators. In addition to a lifetime ban, FIFA fined Kgotlele 50,000 Swiss francs.