Investigations rippling across South America
BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA — Within hours of the FIFA scandal breaking, Sergio Jadue, the president of Chile’s soccer federation, was declaring his innocence even though he wasn’t formally accused of anything.
Jadue was referring to a part of Wednesday’s sweeping U.S. Justice Department indictments that, without specifying them by name, said the 10 presidents of the South American Football Confederation were to receive bribes from a company called Datisa in exchange for transmission rights to games of the Copa America, the tournament of the continent’s national teams.
Jadue said $1.5 million was indeed transferred in late 2013 from the confederation, known as CONMEBOL, but it was an advance on a contract for Copa America.
“I don’t even have to be worried,” Jadue told La Tercera newspaper from Switzerland, where he attended a FIFA meeting. “This won’t affect at all the work of the federation or its president.”
It’s hard to imagine that anything will be business as usual when it comes to soccer here. The FIFA investigations are having a ripple effect across soccer-crazy South America, whose teams have won nine World Cups and where national squads are preparing for the continental tournament that starts in two weeks.
Governments of powerhouses Argentina and Brazil, which for years looked the other way amid rumblings of corruption at various levels of the “beautiful game,” are launching investigations. And power brokers such as Paraguayan Nicolas Leoz, former president of CONMEBOL, are on the defensive. The 86-year-old defiantly declared his innocence from a hospital as Paraguay processes a U.S. ex- Author of “Temples of the Earthbound Gods,” a look at the history of soccer in Argentina and Brazil
tradition request.
“We are looking at a game that has been mismanaged for so long, and so many were implicit,” said Christopher Gaffney, author of “Temples of the Earthbound Gods,” a look at the history of soccer in Argentina and Brazil. “Once you start pulling on the strings, the whole thing could start to unravel.”
In Argentina, prosecutors have charged three men implicated in the scandal with tax fraud, racketeering and money laundering for their involvement.
The Federal Administration for Public Revenue charged Alejandro Burzaco, president of the sports marketing company Torneos y Competencias, and Mariano and Hugo Jinkis, owners of the sports media business Full Play. All were named Wednesday in a U.S. indictment saying they bribed soccer officials in exchange for the rights to international tournaments.
The United States has requested their extradition. Both Jinkises were in Argentina, their lawyer Jorge Anzorreguy said, but had not turned themselves in. Burzaco’s whereabouts were unknown.
“Beyond the initial commotion, every time you open a can of worms it means something positive for the future,” said Mariano Berges, a former judge who helped form the Buenos Aires-based group “Let’s Save Football.”