World Cup law unconstitutional ’
Brazil’s Congress, where critics argued the national government was giving Fifa too much power.
St-Clair Milesi, a spokesman for the local organising committee, said there would be “no comment on an ongoing process”. The prosecutor’s office confirmed the challenge on Wednesday.
The action was filed on June 17, two days after the start of the Confederations Cup, the practice event for the World Cup.
According to the filing, the World Cup law violates the con- stitution by requiring the state, instead of Fifa, to assume civil responsibility for any damages during the events.
“The exception given to Fifa, its subsidiaries, legal representatives, consultants and its employees manifestly violates the taxpayers ’ equal status under Brazilian law... Legislators cannot favour a taxpayer in detriment to another, but may only identify situations in which there are differences which justify different treatment. ”
The Confederations Cup was targeted by protesters angry about Brazil’s poor public services, education and hospitals, and upset the country is spending about $14-billion (about R140-billion) to organise the World Cup.
About $3.3-billion of that money will go towards new stadiums, or to remodel older ones. About 90% of the financing is public, though when Brazil won the bid, it said no public money would be needed to finance stadium construction. –