Senior FIFA Officials Indicted for Bribes totaling $200 Million
There is bribery – the old fashioned kind that is exploited in crime time television programming and occasionally makes the evening news, and then there is FIFA. Taking bribery scandals to an all time new high, the latest news is that FIFA officials could have accepted bribes of $200 Million. Just imagine how that money was spent.
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The sheer scale of FIFA’s corruption scandal was laid bare by fresh indictments for bribes totaling 200 million US dollars with two of the organisation’s most senior officials accused of embezzling huge sums destined for disaster relief and development projects.
The US department of justice indictments disclose that disgraced former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner and his successor Jeffrey Webb – who has pleaded guilty to seven charges – siphoned off development and relief money destined for the very poorest countries in their Caribbean confederation. The two FIFA vice-presidents arrested by police in a dawn raid in Zurich have been handed 90-day provisional suspensions by the ethics committee of world football’s governing body.
Juan Angel Napout, the head of South American football from Paraguay, and CONCACAF president Alfredo Hawit have been indicted by US authorities as part of a conspiracy accused of corruption offences totalling £130million. Both are in custody and are fighting extradition to the USA. FIFA’s ethics committee has now imposed a 90-day ban.
“The reason for the ban, which was based on the request of the investigatory chamber under its chairman Dr Cornel Borbély, is the indictment issued yesterday by the United States Department of Justice for charges of racketeering, conspiracy and corruption.”
US attorney general Loretta Lynch told a news conference: “The betrayal of trust is truly outrageous.”
And she warned those officials still to be arrested: “You will not wait us out and you will not escape our focus.
“Certain of the defendants and their co-conspirators, including the defendant Jack Warner and Jeffrey Webb, took advantage of these opportunities and embezzled or otherwise personally appropriated funds provided by FIFA, including funds intended for natural disaster relief.”
It is the first official confirmation of allegations that Warner diverted 750,000 US dollars in emergency funds donated by FIFA and the Korean Football Association intended for victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. He is currently fighting extradition from Trinidad to the USA.
Webb, a banker from the Cayman Islands, has pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, three counts of wire fraud conspiracy and three counts of money laundering conspiracy. As part of his plea, Webb agreed to forfeit more than 6.7 million US dollars.
Lynch announced the new indictments including against six current and former executive committee members: FIFA vice-presidents Alfredo Hawit of Honduras and Juan Angel Napout of Paraguay, arrested in dawn swoops in Zurich, and fresh corruption charges against a total of 16 officials for sums totalling 200 million US dollars mostly relating to TV and marketing deals in north, south and central America and the Caribbean.
Ricardo Teixeira, the disgraced Brazilian who quit FIFA’s executive committee in 2012 after it was revealed he had received millions of pounds in bribes from FIFA’s former marketing company ISL, his successor Marco Polo Del Nero, and Guatemala’s Rafael Salguero have also been indicted. It brings to 11 the total number of current or former ExCo members facing charges.
At a news conference in Zurich, acting FIFA president Issa Hayatou insisted that neither he nor the organisation is corrupt.
Hayatou said: ”FIFA is not corrupt. We have individuals that have shown negative behaviour. Do not generalise the situation. There are lots of people in FIFA for more than 20 or 30 years that have not been accused of anything.”
Hayatou, who had a kidney transplant three weeks ago, appeared to fall asleep during the press conference but insisted he was well enough to act as president.
He said: ”I have small problems of health but this does not stop me being here before you.”
The FIFA corruption scandal first broke in May when seven officials, including Webb, were arrested in Zurich. Sepp Blatter announced on June 2 he would step down as president after FIFA was forced to admit that it had paid 10million US dollars destined for the South Africa World Cup to an account controlled by Warner.
Meanwhile, FIFA’s ExCo has discussed expanding the World Cup from 32 teams to 40 and have ordered officials to come up with a feasibility study for the plan.
