By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
May 27 – Neither FIFA president Sepp Blatter nor his number two Jerome Valcke are implicated in either of the corruption cases that have plunged world football’s governing body into fresh crisis just 48 hours from its presidential election.
Seven senior officials, including FIFA vice-president and CONCACAF chief Jeffrey Webb and Eduardo Li of Costa Rica – one of the nine new members of the executive committee – were dramatically arrested at the prestigious Baur au Lac hotel where FIFA’s top brass traditional reside on charges of receiving or facilitating millions of US dollars in bribes.
The Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) said those held were being investigated “on suspicion of the acceptance of bribes and kick-backs between the early 1990s and the present day”, totalling “more than $100 million”. The US Department of Justice, which instigated the probe, said the indictment “alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic and deep-rooted, both abroad and here in the United States”.
A few hours later, a separate and unrelated criminal investigation into how the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were allocated was launched by Swiss authorities, who revealed they were intending to question 10 non-Swiss FIFA executive committee members who took part in the December 2010, ballot and who are still members of the new-look FIFA executive committee.
While the timing could hardly have been worse for FIFA, its communications chief Walter de Gregorio insisted FIFA welcomed the Swiss probe, making the point that FIFA itself had lodged a criminal complaint back in November against unidentified individuals over the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. It marked the first time FIFA had sought to involve law enforcement in connection with its own 18-month investigation into the bids, which concluded with an announcement it had found no reason to overturn the decisions to hand the two tournaments to Russia and Qatar respectively.
The inference at the time was that Swiss laws had been broken and De Gregorio, at a hastily arranged press conference, insisted that football’s world governing body was the damaged party rather than the guilty one.
“The timing may not be perfect and it’s not good for our image or reputation but in another way this is good for FIFA,” he said. ” It hurts, it is not easy, but it confirms we are on the right track,” de Gregorio told reporters . “It was FIFA who lodged a complaint with the federal attorney. In this case FIFA is the damaged party. We wouldn’t have had an interest in passing the files to the attorney general if we would not have known the consequences.”
“I have seen all kinds of tweets and speculation. Let me say too that the president and general secretary are not involved and of course the election will go ahead. One thing has nothing to do with the other.”
De Gregorio said “none of us” at FIFA had any advance warning of either bombshell but that it was hardly co-incidence both cases occurred within hours of each other since all FIFA’s 209 member federations are gathered here in Zurich at the same time.
“We were as surprised as you (but) obviously it’s easier that everyone is here attending the congress. This is the answer we received.”
De Gregorio said the infamous and as yet unpublished Michael Garcia files into alleged wrongdoing concerning the 2018 and 2022 bid process had been in possession of the Swiss authorities since November. There were no plans to stage a revote for either Russia or Qatar at this stage, he added, though the latest developments are bound to rekindle calls by Fifa’s critics to do exactly that.
Whilst there is no reason in theory why Friday’s election should not go ahead, it remains to be seen what the impact might be on the voting members.
CONCACAF, in particular, will be stunned that its charismatic leader is one of those arrested in the US-led corruption case after being at the forefront of FIFA’s attempt to reform itself.
As for Blatter, he was due to address CONMEBOL confederation delegates later today though there were suggestions he would not attend, and is due to open the second day of FIFA’s medical conference Thursday. “He’s focussing on the congress,” said de Gregorio who refused to accept that the chickens had now come home to roost in terms of outside forces cleaning up FIFA.
“We can’t investigate as a general prosecutor can. The stress factor is higher today than it was yesterday but the president is quite relaxed because he knows he is not involved and it was FIFA who asked (the Swiss authorities) to open a case. He’s not dancing in his office …but he knows this is the consequence of what we initiated. It’s a surprise it happened today but not a surprise it happened.”
Blatter’s sole adversary for the election, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, who must now be optimistic securing more votes than might otherwise have been the case , took the opportunity to press his claim for an upset victory on Friday by issuing a brief statement.
“We cannot continue with the crisis in FIFA, a crisis that has been ongoing and is not just relevant to the events of today,” said Prince aLI. “FIFA needs leadership that governs, guides and protects our national associations. Leadership that accepts responsibility for its actions and does not pass blame. Leadership that restores confidence in the hundreds of millions of football fans around the world.”
The full statement from the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland is as follows:
The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) has opened criminal proceedings against persons unknown on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and of money laundering in connection with the allocation of the 2018 and 2022 Football World Cups. In the course of said proceedings, electronic data and documents were seized today at FIFA’s head office in Zurich.
Today, on Wednesday 27 May 2015, the OAG has seized data and documents stored in IT systems at the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) as part of a so-called “collection of evidence on cooperative basis”. That means that the party in possession of the data – in this case, FIFA – delivers the requested data to law enforcement authorities, or gives assistance in securing the data, thus facilitating an efficient and swift procedure. The collection of relevant bank documents had already been ordered beforehand at various financial institutes in Switzerland. The files seized today and the collected bank documents will serve criminal proceedings both in Switzerland and abroad.
In the Swiss criminal proceedings, opened by the OAG on 10 March 2015, it is suspected that irregularities occurred in the allocation of the FIFA World Cups of 2018 and 2022. The corresponding unjust enrichment is suspected to have taken place at least partly in Switzerland. Furthermore, the head office of the damaged party, FIFA, is in Switzerland. For these reasons, investigations are being carried out on the suspicion of criminal mismanagement (Article 158 under 1, Section 3 Swiss Criminal Code / SCC). There are also suspicions of money laundering through Swiss bank accounts (Article 305bis, SCC). Subsequently to today’s seizure of files, the OAG and the Swiss Federal Criminal Police will be questioning 10 persons who took part in voting on the allocation of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups as members of the Executive Committee in 2010. These persons should be questioned as persons providing information.
For reasons of criminal procedure (principle of proportionality), the procedure coordinated with the requested acts of the U.S. authorities was designed in such a way as to allow the procurement of any criminally relevant data in an effective manner, and to avoid any possible collusion. These measures were carried out simultaneously as a large number of persons involved in allocating the World Cups were currently in Zurich. These legal actions concern two criminal procedures conducted separately by the OAG and the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. The Swiss and US law enforcement authorities are not conducting any joint investigations, but are coordinating their respective criminal proceedings.
On 18 November 2014, FIFA had filed criminal charges against persons unknown with the OAG. Therefore, the Swiss proceeding is aimed at persons unknown, with FIFA as the injured party. With this procedure, the OAG is contributing to the struggle against corrupt behaviour and money laundering.
Note to media representatives:
In connection with irregularities surrounding football tournaments, two separate proceedings must be distinguished:
The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) is conducting a Swiss criminal investigation regarding the allocation of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. For inquiries regarding this Swiss criminal investigation, please contact the OAG.
In separate proceedings, and independently of the Swiss criminal investigation of the OAG, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York is conducting a criminal investigation into the allocation of media, marketing and sponsoring rights for football tournaments carried out in the United States and Latin America. The Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) supports this criminal investigation as part of international legal assistance. Today, on Wednesday 27 May 2015, football officials and suspected bribers have been arrested in Zurich and placed in detention pending extradition as part of this investigation, and by order of the FOJ.
The requests for extradition and legal assistance shall be decided upon by the FOJ, and not by the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland.
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