View Full Version : Blatter set for Fifa bribes probe U-turn
Win2Win Racing
18th October 2011, 18:19
Fifa president Sepp Blatter is set to call for the release of court documents which could reveal that senior officials at the world governing body took bribes.
More... (http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/sport1/hi/football/15357180.stm)
barneymather
19th October 2011, 00:01
Look at this from an objective person's point of view: FIFA repeatedly block attempts by journalists (who have no motive, exclusives aside, other than to seek the truth) to have court documents released. FIFA also go to the huge expense - almost 4 million pounds - and trouble to 'settle matters' and keep the identities of the parties concerned a secret.
Why do this if you've absolutely nothing to hide? If it's simply a case of some officials cutting corners a little and not being involved in sharp practices, it seems an awful lot of money and effort to merely spare someone's blushes.
As broadsheet newspapers have often pointed out, there's been a similar stench around FIFA in recent years to that which surrounded the International Olympic Committee (IOC). An IOC vice-president was jailed for 2 and a half years for embezzling $3m and taking $700,000 in bribes and the IOC expelled 10 members in 1999 over the bidding process for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, where even the most charitably-minded would struggle to see anything other than highly dubious behaviour.
I see from the above article FIFA are now trying to clean up their act after partnering an anti-corruption body, Transparency International, who produced a scathing report on FIFA's activities, and again, Transparency International have no axe to grind other than to ensure fairness and honesty.
Not before time, Sepp Blatter is now pushing for the release of the aforementioned court documents, and you have to ask yourself if he would have brought TI on board if he felt there was no validity whatsoever in the allegations made. Requesting the release of the court documents still has to be agreed by the FIFA executive committee though, and it certainly won't paint FIFA in a positive light if Blatter's wishes are vetoed.
Top-level professional sport nowadays means mammoth amounts of cash sloshing around and half a million here and there amounts to little more than petty cash. Sadly, as Sepp Blatter is gradually finding out, it seems some officials are unable to resist getting a piece of the action.
Win2Win
19th October 2011, 09:39
FIFA are under threat from the Swizz government to get everything in the open before the end of the year or they will be evicted from the country.... not something Blatter wants to happen as he'll have further to travel to his day job :laugh
barneymather
19th October 2011, 13:06
There'll be a lot of knees knocking round Zurich way and for different reasons. Barack Obama and other world leaders are putting pressure on Switzerland to reveal the names of those who are depositing money illegally in their banks or face being dragged through the courts. As far as American prosecutors are concerned, as US citizens are suspected of hiding money illegally in Switzerland, I assume this will give them the right to begin proceedings in the States.
There must be one hell of a lot of dodgy money tied up in Switzerland which so far has remained beyond the reach of investigators. Legal tax avoidance is one thing and you can debate the morality of that, but no questions asked is also an invitation to organised crime to park their money there with no comebacks. :rolleyes:
I'm surprised it's taken this long for Western governments to start asking searching questions in this area, and Switzerland's biggest bank, UBS, has already been hit with a $780m fine. Ouch.
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