Senior FIFA executives arrested over US corruption charges in dramatic dawn raid

[pete 2,499]

Senior FIFA executives arrested over US corruption charges in dramatic dawn raid

 

06:35, 27 May 2015

By Stephen Stewart

 

SWISS officers made the arrested at the request of the US government, which intends to charge the football officials with corruption.

Getty Images FIFA Headquarters

FIFA Headquarters

 

POLICE have swooped on senior Fifa executives in an dramatic dawn raid.

 

Swiss officers made the arrests at the request of the US government, which intends to charge the football officials with corruption.

 

Police launched the extraordinary operation at the five-star Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich. The officials face extradition to the US to face criminal charges. Members of football's governing body were meeting at the hotel to elect a new president, a process that takes place every four years.

 

According to reports, up to 14 executives could be arrested as part of the FBI investigation, which has been running since 2011. They face fraud, racketeering and money laundering charges and relate to World Cup bids as well as marketing and broadcast deals.

 

A law enforcement official told the New York Times: "We’re struck by just how long this went on for and how it touched nearly every part of what FIFA did. It just seemed to permeate every element of the federation and was just their way of doing business. It seems like this corruption was institutionalised.”

 

Fifa has been plagued by accusations of bribery for decades. The arrests are a blow for Sepp Blatter, the current president who was expected to stand for re-election on Friday.

 

Blatter is not among those being charged although officials close to him are believed to be facing charges. Fifa has been criticised for failing to do enough to combat a culture of wrongdoing amid a constant stream of corruption allegations that reached their peak with the awarding of the next two World Cups to Russia and Qatar.

 

I really hope Blatter is next

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/senior-fifa-executives-arrested-over-5768749

Edited May 27, 2015 by pete

[Gribz 919]

The whole organisation is corrupt and they all need removed and FIFA needs to be started again. Yet as the elections approach you wonder about the timing of this.

[Bearman 9]

No wonder Scotland haven't qualified for a World Cup in years...corrupt the lot of them

[barca72 440]

This guy says that those being charged are only for operations in the Americas. What about Europe, Africa and Asia - are there more investigations required?

 

 

 

tmanfred@businessinsider.com (Tony Manfred)

 

 

Business Insider - ‎May‎ ‎27‎, ‎2015

 

 

 

 

The most staggering part of FIFA's $150 million bribery scandal

 

The US Department of Justice's corruption charges against nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives is one of the most meaningful steps ever taken to clean up the organization.

 

The most staggering part of the arrests isn't that there is some sort of single, shocking allegation here that will topple FIFA, the international governing body for soccer.

 

It's that these allegations, as broad and all-encompassing as they seem, are only related to a corner of the larger soccer universe.

 

The scope of the investigation is important. The bribery and corruption charges, which the DOJ says involved more than $150 million over 21 years, are almost exclusively related to tournaments in North America (organized by CONCACAF) and South America (organized by CONMEBOL) that are second- and third-tier competitions in the grand scheme of things.

 

We're talking about bribery related to CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers, the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the CONCACAF Champions League, the Copa América Centenario, the CONMEBOL Copa América, the CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores, and the Copa do Brasil. The host selection for the 2010 World Cup and the 2011 FIFA presidential election are the only FIFA events mentioned that exist outside of the Americas.

 

There are no charges related to similar continental tournaments in Europe, Africa, or Asia, much less the controversial bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. All nine current and former FIFA executives who got arrested are from the Americas, including CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb.

 

The reason for this, if the reports are to be believed, is that disgraced ex-CONCACAF official Chuck Blazer served as an informant who allowed the FBI important access to the inner workings of the continent's main governing body. In a statement, US Attorney General Loretta Lynch called FIFA's alleged corruption "rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted." If she is to be believed, it stands to reason that Africa, Europe, and Asia are no more or less corrupt than the Americas.

 

The DOJ didn't touch the widespread corruption allegations related to the 2022 World Cup, which include an allegation from a whistleblower who claims she witnessed three different FIFA executive committee members taking $1.5 million bribes from the Qataris at a conference in Angola before the vote.

 

 

 

After the arrests, a FIFA spokesperson said this was "good day" for FIFA. He said the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar would go on as planned, as would Friday's presidential election. The implication is that FIFA just needs to root out its bad apples, and then get back to business as usual. But what these allegations depict is a system of corruption, not just a few corrupt individuals. The DOJ points out that "two generations of soccer officials abused their positions of trust for personal gain."

 

If this is happening across continents and generations in the Americas, it's fair to speculate if it's happening everywhere.

 

Acting US attorney Kelly Currie put it best. "After decades of what the indictment alleges to be brazen corruption, organized international soccer needs a new start," she said, " — a new chance for its governing institutions to provide honest oversight and support of a sport that is beloved across the world, increasingly so here in the United States."

 

We've reached out to FIFA for comment.

[forlanssister 3,114]

The indictment all 166 pages of it.

 

http://images.businessweek.com/bloomberg/pdfs/FIFAindictment.pdf

[der Berliner 3,815]

Could it be that the US of A got on the act here because they were stopped from getting the World Cup, and else might not have bothered?

 

In any case, Blatter behaves like a Pope in the late Middle Ages and FIFA like the corresponding Catholic Church. There's just us and our word is law. They sure need a total shake up.

[compo 7,229]

all players should be telling their associations that they will not take part in a world cup held in Qatar

[RANGERRAB 3,771]

Maybe now someone will investigate how Rhegan got his job ??

I mean working with Liewell at Coors and John Reid's son working at the selection firm Nolan Partners had absolutely nothing to do with it didn't it?

[Oleg_Mcnoleg 50]

A lot of store is being set by the potential cleansing effect of sponsors--Visa have said today that they may withdraw, for example. But I wonder how many of them have been guilty of paying bungs themselves. I seem to remember Nike being 'associated with' (rather than 'up to their oxters in') some of the controversy relating to the Brazilian FA, for example. I doubt they'll all be neutral about where competitions will be held. Surely they'll have strong preferences for particular bids rather than others?

[compo 7,229]

did you know that 1993 migrant workers have died building these stadiums in Qatar