Blatter powerless to punish Havelange
Source: AFP |
July 14, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
FIFA President Sepp Blatter insisted on Thursday that he did not have the power to punish former supremo Joao Havelange after the 96-year-old Brazilian was accused of taking bribes.
Court documents released in Switzerland revealed that Havelange, FIFA president for 24 years before Blatter stepped into the hotseat in 1998, pocketed at least US$1 million and FIFA executive committee member Ricardo Teixeira US$13 million.
The bribes, made by International Sport and Leisure, were detailed in documents made public by Switzerland's supreme court and published by the BBC on Wednesday.
FIFA's discredited Swiss-based marketing partner collapsed in 2001 with debts of around US$300 million. But Blatter went on the attack on Thursday, insisting that he was powerless to sanction his predecessor.
"I don't have the power to call him to account. The Congress named him as Honorary President. Only the Congress can decide his future," Blatter told www.fifa.com.
Blatter insisted that payments were not illegal under Swiss law at the time.
"Known what? That commission was paid? Back then, such payments could even be deducted from tax as a business expense," he said.
"Today, that would be punishable under law. You can't judge the past on the basis of today's standards. Otherwise it would end up with moral justice. I can't have known about an offence that wasn't even one."
Blatter admitted he had been referred to as P1 in the court documents.
"It was the Swiss Federal Court that decided to make the publication of the ISL non-prosecution order anonymous. As far as I am concerned, the whole document could have been published 'clean', to put an end to the speculation once and for all," he said.
"However, the Federal Court stated that the 'names of all non-accused third parties' should be made anonymous. I am not accused, so I have been made anonymous as P1, which quite honestly is not difficult to find out."
Court documents released in Switzerland revealed that Havelange, FIFA president for 24 years before Blatter stepped into the hotseat in 1998, pocketed at least US$1 million and FIFA executive committee member Ricardo Teixeira US$13 million.
The bribes, made by International Sport and Leisure, were detailed in documents made public by Switzerland's supreme court and published by the BBC on Wednesday.
FIFA's discredited Swiss-based marketing partner collapsed in 2001 with debts of around US$300 million. But Blatter went on the attack on Thursday, insisting that he was powerless to sanction his predecessor.
"I don't have the power to call him to account. The Congress named him as Honorary President. Only the Congress can decide his future," Blatter told www.fifa.com.
Blatter insisted that payments were not illegal under Swiss law at the time.
"Known what? That commission was paid? Back then, such payments could even be deducted from tax as a business expense," he said.
"Today, that would be punishable under law. You can't judge the past on the basis of today's standards. Otherwise it would end up with moral justice. I can't have known about an offence that wasn't even one."
Blatter admitted he had been referred to as P1 in the court documents.
"It was the Swiss Federal Court that decided to make the publication of the ISL non-prosecution order anonymous. As far as I am concerned, the whole document could have been published 'clean', to put an end to the speculation once and for all," he said.
"However, the Federal Court stated that the 'names of all non-accused third parties' should be made anonymous. I am not accused, so I have been made anonymous as P1, which quite honestly is not difficult to find out."
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