ZURICH, Switzerland (AFP) — Mohamed Bin Hammam touched down here yesterday to face bribery allegations that have thrust a harsh spotlight onto the gloomy machinations of world football’s governing body FIFA.

Grey skies blanketed the Swiss financial capital as the 62-year-old Qatari arrived to answer charges that he attempted to buy the FIFA presidency by offering cash in exchange for votes to Caribbean football officials.

If found guilty of wrongdoing he faces a life ban from the sport, but he has pledged to come out fighting.

“Notwithstanding the bias and the absence of fair proceedings since the start of this trial, over the past seven weeks my legal team and I have been working very hard to provide convincing grounds that fair play was highly respected and observed throughout my election campaign,” he wrote on his personal blog prior to arriving in Switzerland.

A key figure behind Qatar’s astonishing success in the race to host the 2022 World Cup, Bin Hammam stands accused of attempting to bribe officials with cash gifts of US$40,000 (J$3.4 million) each during a Caribbean Football Union (CFU) summit in May.

A leaked FIFA ethics committee report seen by Britain’s Press Association claimed there was “overwhelming” evidence against the Qatari, amid stories of brown envelopes stuffed with cash and clandestine meetings in hotel boardrooms.

With former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner, charged alongside Bin Hammam, having stood down from all football activities, Bin Hammam has been left to face the music alone.

The cases of CFU officials Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester will also be heard by the ethics committee at FIFA headquarters today, but all the attention will focus on Bin Hammam, who will learn his fate tomorrow.

The former Asian Fosotball Confederation (AFC) president — suspended since May 29 — says he will not speak to the media until after his hearing, but he has used his blog to jab an accusatory finger at his opponents.

“There can be no doubt that there has been a campaign waged within certain quarters to ensure that I am seen to be guilty and eliminated from football in the court of public opinion, even before my hearing has started,” he added on his blog.

“Despite these clear attempts to besmirch my name in the public domain, I will not allow my own suspicions to dash my hopes or to make me think, as some would wish, that I will have to travel a long and hard road to clear my name of the stain of this politically motivated affair.

“My years serving football and FIFA lead me to think, and presume, that at the very least the Ethics Committee will give me the fair hearing that I deserve, uninfluenced by political agendas or other interests.”

Angered by leaks to the media from FIFA officials, Bin Hammam sees himself as a scapegoat for the corruption rumours that have swirled around the organisation ever since Qatar’s stunning World Cup bid triumph in December last year.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter pledged to rid the organisation of corruption after Bin Hammam’s last-minute withdrawal from the presidential contest saw him elected unopposed for a fourth consecutive term in June.

The 75-year-old has swatted aside concerns over the voting process that saw Qatar awarded the World Cup and will see the Bin Hammam affair as a golden opportunity to prove he is serious about cleaning up FIFA’s image.

Bin Hammam now finds himself squarely in FIFA’s firing line, but even if he does become the first high-profile victim of his former ally Blatter’s anti-corruption purge, he is unlikely to go quietly.