By Andrew Warshaw
November 24 – A Swiss anti-corruption expert has emerged as the key player in FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s quest to rid the organisation of sleaze and scandal.
University professor Mark Pieth (pictured), relatively unknown in the public arena, has been appointed to lead the reform of football’s world governing body.
Pieth, who will head FIFA’s independent Good Governance panel – otherwise known as a solutions committee – will be unveiled to the media at a news conference next week where he will outline his task ahead.
In 2004, Pieth was chosen by the United Nations to serve on an independent inquiry team examining alleged corruption in the Iraqi oil-for-food program.
FIFA has said up to 18 members of his team, who will compile reports from four separate task forces set up by Blatter, would be identified on December 17 following a pivotal Executive Committee meeting in Tokyo.
They will then be required to present their first report by next March, as part of Blatter’s two-year road to reform.
According to his biography, Pieth, a professor of criminal law and criminology, has previously helped the Swiss Government draft laws to curb “money laundering, organised crime, drug abuse, corruption and the confiscation of assets.”
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