GRABBED BY THE SLEAZEBUSTERS
Seven top officials arrested in dawn raid US law chiefs allege ‘World Cup of fraud’ But still Blatter won’t postpone vote
FIFA’s darkest day started at 6am when the elegant doors of the five-star Baur au Lac hotel overlooking Lake Zurich burst open and more than a dozen plainclothed officers from the swiss federal police swept in. They got the keys to the rooms of seven FIFA delegates, woke them simultaneously and then led them away, their faces and identities shielded by blankets as they were bundled into police cars.
The timing of yesterday’s raid, carried out by the swiss on behalf of United states prosecutors and the FBI, could hardly have been worse for FIFA president sepp Blatter, coming just two days before the election that looked set to give him another four years in power.
By last night, that prospect looked very distant as a stunned football world digested the day’s amazing developments in which:
seven FIFA officials — including Jeffrey Webb, the FIFA vicepresident tipped as Blatter’s heir apparent — were arrested as part of the FBI investigation into racketeering, fraud and money laundering. They face extradition to the United states for questioning. six of them are challenging the extradition.
A TOTAL of 14 people, including discredited former COnCACAF chief Jack Warner, were charged over taking bribes and kickbacks worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Us Attorney General Loretta Lynch described corruption in FIFA as ‘rampant, systemic and deep-rooted’.
THe 1 6 4 - page Us c ourt indictment claimed south Africa paid $10m (£6.5m) in bribes to host the 2010 World Cup and there were separate bribes related to FIFA’s 2011 presidential election.
sWIss police raided FIFA’s Zurich HQ and took documents and electronic data in a separate probe into the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. They intend to interview 10 FI FA executive c o mmittee members this week.
FIFA claimed the congress and presidential election would go ahead, as would the World Cups in Russia and Qatar in 2018 and 2022.
UeFA called for the presidential election to be postponed and said they may boycott it.
BLATTeR, having earlier been said to be relaxed and not involved, issued a statement banning 11 people from football-related activity.
USA FLEXES ITS MUSCLES
AFTeR the dawn raid, the Us department of justice revealed that a total of 14 had been charged with corruption around football events including bribes and kickbacks and face up to 20 years in jail if guilty.
nine defendants are FIFA officials, headed by Webb, who allegedly requested a $3m bribe in 2012 to secure media rights for World Cup qualifying matches and used part of that money to build a swimming pool at his home in Loganville, Georgia.
The other eight are eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, disgraced former FIFA vice-president J ack Warner, eugenio Figueredo, Rafael esquivel of venezuela, Jose Maria Marin of Brazil and nicolas Leoz, the Paraguayan former FIFA executive member who asked for a knighthood and the FA Cup to be named after him in return for his england 2018 vote. The other five were south American sports marketing executives: Alejandro Burzaco, Aaron Davidson and Hugo and Mariano Jinkis plus media boss Jose Margulies.
Former United states FIFA official Chuck Blazer, now seriously ill with pneumonia in a new York hospital, has already pleaded guilty to 10 counts and returned £1.5m. But he also turned supergrass and his whistleblower activities have sent the FBI and the other investigative agencies down all the right paths.
Guilty pleas were also given by Warner’s sons, Daryan and Daryll, and Brazil-based sports marketing executive Jose Hawilla.
Us Attorney General Lynch said some FIFA executives had ‘used their positions to solicit bribes. They did this over and over, year after year, t ournament after tournament. They corrupted the business of worldwide soccer to serve their interests and to enrich themselves.’
Lynch said the charges included receiving bribes to receive media and marketing rights to football tournaments; receiving bribes to influence the decision of where tournaments should be hosted — including the 2010 World Cup in south Africa, and the 2016 Copa America in the Us, racketeering and money laundering
she said: ‘The indictment alleges corruption t hat is r ampant, systemic and deep-rooted both abroad and here in the United states. It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks. And it has profoundly harmed a multitude of victims from the youth leagues and developing countries that should benefit from the revenue.’
Acting Us Attorney for new York eastern district Kelly Currie warned: ‘Our message to FIFA and soccer is our investigation is going to continue. What FIFA does internally is a matter for them but law enforcements in the UsA are not going to tolerate this corrupt conduct going forward.’
And Richard Weber, of the Inland Revenue service’s criminal investigation division, added: ‘To date more than $151m (£98m) has been identified. We discovered tens of millions of dollars hidden in offshore accounts. This is the World Cup of fraud and today we are issuing FIFA a red card.’
SWISS PILE ON THE PRESSURE
In ADDITIOn to the Us- l ed investigation, the Office of the Attorney General of switzerland carried out their own raid on FIFA’s headquarters as part of a separate criminal investigation into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in Russia and Qatar.
They took away electronic data and documents relating to the two World Cups.
The 10 remaining FIFA executive committee members f rom the World Cup vote for the 2018 and 2022 to u r n a ments wi l l be interviewed while they are in Zurich for the congress. The 10, however, do not include the two swiss residents, and the two most powerful men in world football — Blatter and UeFA president Michel Platini.
FIFA’S PATHETIC RESPONSE
FOUR hours after the Baur au Lac raid, FIFA finally entered the fray in a pitiful attempt to deflect attention from their beleaguered organisation and especially Blatter. Chief s pokesman Walter De Gregorio cl ai med FIFA had instigated the swiss probe by handing over their own report into World Cup bid corruption last november — and that they were ‘very happy with what was happening’.
He al s o i nsisted t he FIFA congress would take place tomorrow, claimed Blatter was not involved and said there would be no re-vote over Qatar and Russia.
De Gregorio said: ‘The timing is not the best but FIFA welcomes this process. It is not a nice day but it’s a good day. The president is relaxed because he’s not involved although the stress levels may be up today.’
Then after being quizzed by journalists about why Blatter was r el axed, De Gregorio added bizarrely: ‘Well, he is not dancing in his office. He is very calm, he is fully co- operative with everything. That’s what I meant. He’s not a happy man, saying “Wow wow”.’
Blatter did not appear as scheduled at two confederation summits
yesterday but he is expected to address t he FIFA medical conference this morning.
He finally released a statement last night, vowing to kick out corrupt officials and banning 11 people from football-related activity.
THE WORLD HITS BACK
FA CHAIRMAN Greg Dyke was among the first to react to yesterday’s dramatic news, saying: ‘These developments are very serious for FIFA and its current leadership. There must be a question mark over whether the election should take place in these circumstances.’
Last night, Europe’s governing body UEFA called for a postponement of t omorrow’s FIFA presidential election after extensive lobbying convinced them an attempt to oust Blatter would fail. UEFA had considered allowing the election to take place if they believed the rival candidate, Prince Ali Bin Al- Hussein of Jordan, could secure enough votes.
But a day of calculating potential votes, and discussions in Warsaw where UEFA chiefs were attending the Europa League final, led them to conclude that Blatter retained the support needed to remain i n power despite the latest allegations.
UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino said: ‘ We strongly believe the FIFA congress should be postponed with new FIFA presidential elections to be organised within the next six months. UEFA shows this FIFA the red card. Today’s events are a disaster for FIFA and tarnish the image of football as whole. UEFA is deeply shocked and saddened by them.
‘These events show that once again corruption is deeply rooted in FIFA’s culture. There is a need for the whole of FIFA to be rebooted and for a real reform to be carried out. The members of the European executive committee are convinced that there is a strong need for a change through the leadership of this FIFA.’
But Russia hit out at the American investigation, saying the arrests were ‘ evidently another case of illegal extra-territorial i mplementation of American law’.
The leading sponsors of FIFA adopted a f amiliar stance, seemingly as reluctant as ever to step away from the world’s most popular and most lucrative sport. To the explosive allegations came only measured statements.
Adidas said they could ‘only encourage FIFA to continue to establish and follow transparent c o mpli an c e standards in everything they do’. Budweiser said they ‘expect’ their ‘partners t o maintain strong ethical standards and operate with transparency’.
But the 164-page US indictment document provides a fascinating insight into the role of major brands i n football. Attorney General Lynch referred to a leading American sportswear brand and a deal with the Brazilian football federation, dating back to 1996.
While it does not name the brand, it alleges an additional $40million was paid to secure the $ 160million sponsorship deal with the Brazil national team. In 1996 Nike became the sponsors of the Brazil team.
Nike issued a statement last night saying: ‘Like fans everywhere we care passionately about the game and are concerned by the very serious allegations. Nike believes in ethical and fair play in both business and sport and strongly opposes any form of manipulation or bribery. We have been cooperating, and will continue to cooperate, with the authorities.’