FIFA concedes WCup bribery, seeks US cash
Print Edition
FIFA acknowledged yesterday that past World Cups were awarded based on bribes, and the organization wants United States prosecutors to give it “tens of millions of dollars” seized from the former FIFA officials who took the cash.
FIFA submitted a 22-page claim to the US Attorney’s Office in New York on Tuesday that seeks a big share in restitution from more than US$190 million already forfeited by soccer and marketing officials who pleaded guilty in the sprawling corruption case.
Tens of millions of dollars more is likely to be collected by US authorities when sentences are given, and from dozens of officials currently indicted but who have denied bribery charges or are fighting extradition.
FIFA claims it is the victim of corrupt individuals, despite widespread criticism that bribe-taking was embedded in its culture in the presidencies of Joao Havelange and Sepp Blatter, who was forced from office after 17 years by the scandal.
“The convicted defendants abused the positions of trust they held at FIFA and other international football organizations and caused serious and lasting damage to FIFA,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said yesterday in a statement. “The monies they pocketed belonged to global football and were meant for the development and promotion of the game. FIFA as the world governing body of football wants that money back and we are determined to get it no matter how long it takes.”
FIFA is asking for:
— US$28.2 million for years of payments, including bonuses, flights and daily expenses, to officials it now says are corrupt;
— US$10 million for the “theft” of money that FIFA officials transferred as bribes to then-executive committee members to vote for South Africa as 2010 World Cup host;
— “Substantial” cost of legal bills since separate US and Swiss federal probes of corruption in international soccer were revealed last May;
— Damages for harm to its reputation, plus other bribes and kickbacks for media rights to non-FIFA competitions but “which were made possible because of the value of the FIFA brand”.
FIFA’s grab for a share of the money sets up a battle with two of its regional confederations — CONMEBOL, the South American confederation, and CONCACAF, the body running soccer in North America. It was officials and competitions from those regions that were most involved in the corruption crisis.
It also signals a change in strategy for FIFA, after months of senior officials distancing Zurich from the scandal, instead blaming confederations which are beyond its control.
FIFA wants more than US$5.3 million it spent on Chuck Blazer, the disgraced American official who has pleaded guilty, allocates US$4.4 million of its claim for former FIFA vice president Jack Warner, and US$3.5 million for Ricardo Teixeira, Havelange’s former son-in-law from Brazil.
FIFA claims a further US$2 million for payments to Jeffrey Webb, the Cayman Islands banker who was arrested at a luxury Zurich hotel last May, and now lives near Atlanta, Georgia, awaiting sentence in June.
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