Talk of mega bribes and throat-slashing gestures at FIFA trial
NEW YORK, Nov 16, (AFP): A trial exposing rampant corruption in the business of world football ended a day of testimony Wednesday with a defendant accused of making throat-slashing gestures to intimidate a key witness.
The witness, Alejandro Buzarco, was weeping and appeared visibly distraught as he began his second day of testimony in the FIFA corruption trial in the Brooklyn federal court, prompting the judge to pause the proceedings.
Many in the court assumed Buzarco was upset because a former Argentine football official had committed suicided in Buenos Aires the day before after being implicated in the scandal by the Argentine businessman.
Buzarko, who headed sports marketing firm Torneos y Competencias, had accused Jorge Delhon and another official with a government program that held television rights to Argentine football matches of taking millions of dollars in bribes. Delhon threw himself in the path of a train.
But at the end of the day, the federal prosecutor told the judge that Buzarco reacted as he did because one of the defendants, Manuel Burga, a former head of Peru’s soccer federation, had twice drawn a finger across his neck.
“There has been a new crime committed, intimidation of a witness,” prosecutor Kristin Mace told the judge.
Burga’s lawyer, Bruce Udolf, scoffed at the suggestion: “This is a gentle, big, timid man,” he said. “He was scratching his neck.”
Judge Pamela Chen said she was concerned “this might have been an effort to intimidate the witness” and ordered Burga be confined with GPS monitoring and no computer or phone access, except to his lawyer.
Roma boasts the league’s best defense, having conceded just seven goals in 11 games, while Lazio is one of only three squads to have scored 30 goals or more.
Both clubs also feature young coaches who are making a growing impact — Simone Inzaghi at Lazio and Eusebio Di Francesco at Roma. Inzaghi and Di Francesco used to face each other in the “Derby della Capitale” when they were players for Lazio and Roma, respectively.
As always in the derby, security will be high, especially after Lazio fans littered the Stadio Olimpico with images of Anne Frank — the young diarist who died in the Holocaust — wearing a jersey of city rival Roma last month.
The displays of anti-Semitism are being investigated by the football federation and could result in a stadium ban for Lazio.
Meanwhile, Roma may want to keep something in reserve for Wednesday’s visit to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
After losses to Lazio, Roma, Inter and Juventus, big-spending AC Milan is in desperate need of a big win to provide job security for embattled manager Vincenzo Montella.
Milan, which was bought by a Chinese-led consortium in April, spent more than 200 million euros (nearly $250 million) on new players in the offseason but is struggling to stay in the Europa League places.