Blatter's FIFA reforms face early setback

By Andrew Warshaw

December 1 – Twenty-four hours after FIFA unveiled their new reform chief, their plans immediately hit the buffers today when the anti-corruption watchdog that has been advising them for weeks said they wanted no part of the new operation and were cutting all links with world football’s governing body.

On Wednesday (November 30) Mark Pieth, criminology professor at the University of Basel and the man charged with cleaning up football’s world governing body, recommended a complete overhaul of the way FIFA operates with a series of proposals including reducing the President’s power and independent members being appointed to the Executive Committee.

But the credibility of his task was quickly undermined before it had even got off the ground.

Transparency International (TI), from whom FIFA had solicited advice in July following the recent spate of corruption scandals, said they were no longer prepared to cooperate.

Sylvia Schenk, TI’s senior adviser for sport, said they turned down an invitation to join Pieth’s new independent Governance Committee because Pieth was being paid by FIFA and had admitted he won’t be looking into its recent shady past.

“Yesterday we learned this commission is not dealing with the past,” Schenk said.

“The first step we said in our report is dealing with the past.”

Pieth said it was common practice for companies to pay for outside auditors to evaluate their business practices.

“We can’t start asking audit firms to do their job for free just to make sure they are independent,” Pieth reacted.

“What you’ll get is something quite pathetic.”

But Schenk (pictured) said the funds needed for an independent body should be provided by a wider grouping than just FIFA.

“All members of the Commission are supposed to be independent,” Schenk told Bloomberg.

“You can’t be independent if you have a contract with FIFA.”

Blatter praised TI’s work when he outlined the eagerly awaited two-year road map to reform last month.

”This cooperative work is continuing and I hope it will continue long into the future,” the FIFA President said at the time.

But Schenk, in a series of other interviews, said she was ”just astonished” that TI’s conditions for joining Pieth’s panel were not accepted.

”They neglected our recommendations,” Schenk said.

”I can’t understand it.

“I’m just wondering what happened from one day to another…It is all the better that we are not a member of it.”

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