Cole's agent handed FA suspension

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Agent Jonathan Barnett has had his licence suspended for 18 months and been fined £100,000 for his role in the Ashley Cole tapping-up affair.

An independent Football Association disciplinary commission found Barnett had breached two rules regarding illegal approaches.

Cole, Chelsea and the club's manager Jose Mourinho have already been punished for their role in the meeting.

England defender Cole and his agent Barnett met with Mourinho, Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon and agent Pinhas Zahavi at the Royal Park Hotel in London in January 2005, while Cole was an Arsenal player. The England full-back later signed a new contract with Arsenal but moved to Chelsea last month

Chelsea were fined £300,000 and handed a suspended three-point deduction when the Premier League investigated the case last year.

Mourinho and Cole were also fined £75,000 apiece, with Cole failing in an appeal against his punishment.

The FA said it does not have any jurisdiction over agent Zahavi, who was thought to be at the meeting to help broker a deal.

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The FA will urge Fifa and the Israeli Football Association to take action against Pini Zahavi, the super-agent who was also part of the gathering at a London hotel.

Zahavi is the only member of the cast at the rendezvous not to have been called to account. The FA cannot take action against Zahavi because he is registered as an agent in Israel but Fifa and Zahavi's own national association have the power to examine his behaviour.
Fifa last night said it would look into the matter if asked to by the FA.

The FA believes its punishment shows a determination to crack down on wrongdoing by agents and hopes Zahavi's role in the affair will be scrutinised. It will write to Fifa and the Israeli FA.

Zahavi declined last year to give a statement to the Premier League disciplinary commission which examined Cole's meeting with Chelsea and fined the player, Chelsea's manager Jose Mourinho and the Stamford Bridge club.