A FIFA appeal panel has lifted the one-year ban given to Qatar Football Association vice-president Saoud Al-Mohannadi by an independent ethics committee in November.
That decision was handed down by FIFA ethics chief Hans-Joachim Eckert after investigators had recommended a ban of two-and-a-half years for Al-Mohannadi's failure to cooperate with an inquiry into an unnamed third party, a breach of the governing body's code of ethics.
But in a hearing last week, the governing body's appeal committee reversed that decision.
In a statement issued on Thursday, FIFA said: " The appeal committee considered that the evidence available was not sufficient to establish to the appropriate standard, ie. to the comfortable satisfaction of the members of the appeal committee, that Mr Al-Mohannadi had acted in violation of the FCE."
As a result, the one-year ban and £16,000 fine have been revoked.
Al-Mohannadi, who last year became an Asian Football Confederation vice-president, was the QFA's general secretary in 2010 when it won the vote to host the 2022 World Cup and he had wanted to represent Qatar's interests on the new FIFA Council as preparations for the tournament proceed.
His hopes of achieving that were derailed by the ethics committee hearing and it is currently unclear whether his appeal victory has come too late to get him back on the ballot for next month's election in Bahrain of four AFC members to the FIFA Council.
Source: PA
