By Andrew Warshaw
June 4 – Another explosive revelation in the FIFA corruption scandal has shamed world football with the admission by high-profile whistleblower Chuck Blazer, the former CONCACAF general secretary, that he facilitated or took kickbacks over the award of the 1998 and 2010 World Cups.
In an extraordinary testimony that was part of a plea bargain after he pleaded guilty to tax evasion, Blazer, the larger-than-life former FIFA powerbroker whose burly, bearded frame was for years a regular sight on the circuit, has revealed the full extent of the bribery that he was involved with at FIFA during his nine years at the organisation that ended two years ago.
Blazer, the FBI’s star witness in their wide-ranging criminal case that has engulfed FIFA and led President Sepp Blatter to resign, said he and others also took bribes in connection with a number of other tournaments, including five Gold Cups, CONCACAF’s premier national team competition.
General secretary of CONCACAF from 1990 to 2011, Blazer’s role including negotiations for sponsorship and media rights.
“During my association with FIFA and CONCACAF, among other things, I and others agreed that I or a co-conspirator would commit at least two acts of racketeering activity,” his stunning testimony revealed.
“Among other things, I agreed with other persons in or around 1992 to facilitate the acceptance of a bribe in conjunction with the selection of the host nation for the 1998 World Cup.”
It is the first time in the entire process that the 1998 World Cup, staged in France and partly organised by current UEFA president Michel Platini, has been mentioned in the US corruption probe.
Blazer’s testimony went on: “Beginning in or about 1993 and continuing through the early 2000s, I and others agreed to accept bribes and kickbacks in conjunction with the broadcast and other rights to the 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2003 Gold Cups.”
“Beginning in or around 2004 and continuing through 2011, I and others on the FIFA executive committee agreed to accept bribes in conjunction with the selection of South Africa as the host nation for the 2010 World Cup. Among other things, my actions above had common participants and results.”
“Between April of 2004 and May 2011, I and others who were fiduciaries to both FIFA and CONCACAF, in contravention of our duties, I and others, while acting in our official capacities, agreed to participate in a scheme to defraud FIFA and CONCACAF to the right to honest services by taking undisclosed bribes. I and others agreed to use e-mail, telephone and a wire transfer into and out of the United States in furtherance of the scheme. Funds procured through these improper payments passed through JFK Airport in the form of a check (cheque).
“Between December 2008 and May 2011, I and others agreed to and transmitted funds by wire transfer and cheques from places within the United States to places in the Caribbean, and from places in the Caribbean to places in the United States. I agreed to and took these actions to, among other things, promote and conceal my receipt of bribes and kickbacks. I knew that the funds involved were the proceeds of an unlawful bribe, and I and others used wires, e-mails and telephone to effectuate payment of and conceal the nature of the bribe. Funds procured through these improper payments passed through JFK airport in the form of a check (cheque).
“Between 2005 and 2010, while a resident of New York, New York, I knowingly and wilfully failed to file an income tax return and failed to pay income taxes. In this way, I intentionally concealed my true income from the IRS, thereby defrauding the IRS of income tax owed. I knew that my actions were wrong at the time.”
The revelations were made in a secret New York court hearing in 2013 that was kept under wraps. The papers have now been released as part of the FBI’s wider investigation into FIFA. The investigation into corruption is also reportedly looking into the awarding of the World Cup to Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022 but no details about this have yet emerged.
The US inquiry last week indicted 14 people on charges of racketeering and money laundering. Seven FIFA officials, including two vice-presidents, were arrested in that infamous dawn raid in Zurich as they awaited the FIFA Congress which triggered the worst crisis in the history of the organisation. Four others had already been charged, including Blazer.
Intriguingly, Blazer, who was a prime mover in putting professional football on the map in the United States but whose name will now for ever be tarnished, does not name the “others” on FIFA’s executive committee who he claims also took bribes. Roughly half of that committee are no longer there, having already either quit in shame or been suspended.
Blatter has not, so far, been implicated but speculation persists that at some stage he may be. Until his shock resignation on Tuesday, he had intended to travel to the US to attend the women’s World Cup final in a few weeks but this will not now happen. When the embattled president, who was advised to quit because of the widening criminal probe and disquiet among sponsors, showed up for work at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich on Wednesday, he received a prolonged ovation when he addressed 400 staff.
Altogether the US justice department alleges those arrested so far accepted bribes and kickbacks estimated at more than $150 million over a 24-year period. Case prosecutor Kelly Currie has been reported as saying the latest chapter was not the last in their investigation.
Meanwhile, acting on a US request, Interpol has issued ‘red notices’ for two former FIFA officials and four corporate executives for charges including racketeering conspiracy and corruption. The six include ex-FIFA vice president and CONCACAF President Jack Warner – Blazer’s partner in crime – and former FIFA exco member Nicolás Leoz, already under house in his native Paraguay as part of the US inquiry.
Interpol traditional uses red notices to inform member countries that an arrest warrant has been issued and means those named risk arrest anywhere they travel.
In other developments, FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke has dismissed any involvement over a $10m million payment destined for Warner approved by the South African Football Association.
Valcke said on Wednesday he was not guilty of corrupt practice relating to the payment, requested in a letter addressed to him personally, and he saw no reason to resign. US prosecutors say the payment was a bribe but the South Africans insist the cash was intended for football development in the Caribbean, Warner’s home region, as part of their World Cup legacy and are furious at any insinuation that it was not above board.
Valcke said he would not step down but may leave whenever a new president is elected. “I have nothing to blame myself for and I certainly do not feel guilty so I do not even have to justify my innocence,” he told a French radio station.
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