Day the FBI put world football in dock
Seven held amid claims of ‘rampant’ corruption at Fifa Supergrass taped officials as they met in London hotel
FOOTBALL’S world governing body suffered a day of shame yesterday after seven senior officials were arrested on suspicion of a £100million bribery and corruption racket.
The Fifa chiefs were held in dawn raids at their £1,000-a-night Zurich hotel after a four-year FBI investigation and now face extradition to the US and the prospect of lengthy jail sentences.
Pressure on the body’s controversial head Sepp Blatter intensified as the US hinted he could also face arrest and Swiss police last night warned him not to leave the country.
Incredibly, the 79-year-old was still clinging to power ahead of Fifa’s elections tomorrow – when he is favourite to retain the organisation’s presidency for a fifth time.
As the body was thrown into turmoil, it also emerged that an FBI supergrass working undercover at the London Olympics provided key information that led to the sensational arrests. Investigators say former Fifa executive Chuck Blazer used a hidden microphone in a key fob to provided vital intelligence into what US legal chiefs called ‘rampant, systemic and deep-rooted’ corruption over 24 years.
FBI director James B. Comey said ‘undisclosed and illegal payments, kickbacks and bribes became a way of doing business at Fifa’ and created ‘a culture of corruption and greed for the biggest sport in the world.’
‘It’s a beautiful game because the field is flat. But the game has been hijacked,’ he added.
Tax Agency Investigations chief Richard Weber also declared: ‘This is the World Cup of fraud, and we are issuing Fifa with the red card.’
US prosecutors also alleged that sports giant nike paid a £27million bribe to the Brazilian Football Federation to secure a shirt and cl othing deal with t he national team.
In a separate move yesterday, Swiss prosecutors launched proceedings in connection with the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar over ‘criminal mismanagement and money laundering.’
A number of Swiss bank accounts linked to officials were frozen and electronic data seized last night as a defiant Fifa insisted that both tournaments would still go ahead.
Fifa stressed that Mr Blatter – branded a ‘dictator’ by some critics – was not implicated in the investi- gation but Swiss officials admitted he could face questioning. Among the seven held yesterday as they gathered for the election at Fifa’s favoured luxury Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich was Jeffrey Webb, one of Fifa’s vice presidents.
Following a dawn raid, members from the executive committee were led away by police through a side exit, several using bedsheets to shield themselves from publicity. They are among 14 indicted on corruption charges in a US court over ‘racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies in a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer’.
Attorney general Loretta Lynch said: ‘They corrupted the business of worldwide soccer to serve their interests and to enrich themselves. They did this over and over, year after year, tournament after tournament.’ It later emerged that former Fifa executive Chuck Blazer had spied on his one-time colleagues during the 2012 London Olympics. The flamboyant 70-yearold American is said to have carried a microphone hidden in a key fob throughout much of the games.
At one time he is reported to have thrown the device on to the table of a Mayfair hotel while sensitive discussions with Fifa officials took place. Blazer, a Fifa executive from 1996 to 2013, has already admitted corruption charges linked to the awarding of tournaments and commercial projects and faces jail.
Events that were influenced by corruption include the awarding of the 2010 World Cup to South Africa and the 2011 Fifa presidential election, say US presecutors.
The Swiss probe was triggered by Fifa’s awarding of the World Cups of 2018 and 2022 to Russia and Qatar. That decision ended Eng- land’s hopes of hosting the 2018 tournament, a bid strongly-backed by Prince William and David Beckham. Among those also named in the indictment but not yet arrested is former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner, of Trinidad and Tobago.
He and his family were paid about £1million by a Qatari firm close to the country’s successful bid and is accused of soliciting more than £6million in bribes from South Africa’s government. Swiss police said they would question 10 Fifa executive committee members who took part in the votes that selected Russia and Qatar in December 2010.
Mr Blatter said yesterday vowed to ‘work vigorously within Fifa in order to root out any misconduct’ and to ensure football worldwide is ‘free from wrongdoing.’
Former England captain gary Lineker tweeted: ‘There can’t be a more deplorable organisation on earth than Fifa.’ Sports minister Tracey Crouch said she backed calls for ‘ change and reform’ at the top of Fifa.
Russia last night insisted it had ‘nothing to hide’.