Former CONCACAF vice-president Austin banned for one year

ZURICH, (Reuters) – Lisle Austin  has been banned from all soccer-related activity for one year by  FIFA for taking his case to a civil court over CONCACAF’s  decision to oust him as acting president.
The Barbadian was in charge of the North, Central and  Caribbean soccer confederation for four days following the  suspension of its long-standing president Jack Warner in May  over corruption allegations.
FIFA said yesterday that Austin had been banned by its  disciplinary committee “for lodging a claim related to football  matters in front of the ordinary courts in the Bahamas,  constituting a breach of… the FIFA statutes.”
Soccer’s world governing body added that Austin must  withdraw his case before he can be reinstated.
“Should Lisle Austin not withdraw the claim lodged in front  of the ordinary courts in the Bahamas definitively and  irrevocably, he will remain banned from taking part in any kind  of football-related activity at national and international  level… for as long as the legal proceedings in ordinary courts  are pursued,” said a FIFA statement.
Warner, who also sat on the FIFA executive committee, was  suspended after allegations of bribery and pending further  investigations by the world governing body’s ethics committee.
Warner later resigned, the investigation against him was  dropped and he was presumed innocent.
Austin, who as CONCACAF’s most senior vice-president had  replaced Warner, was in charge for just four days during which  he tried to fire general secretary Chuck Blazer.
Austin also announced that he was conducting a ‘forensic  audit’ of the regional body’s accounts over the past five years.
The Barbadian said he had tried to revoke Blazer’s signing  authority over the bank accounts of CONCACAF.
He was sacked by CONCACAF’s executive committee but  maintained he was the victim of a power grab and said he had won  a court order in the Bahamas allowing him to return to office.