By Andrew Warshaw
December 7 – The FIFA corruption scandal has taken another mouth-watering twist with the revelation that the FBI is investigating the role Sepp Blatter may have played in a $100 million bribery scam.
Until now, despite being suspended by FIFA’s ethics committee over a so-called “disloyal payment” made to Michel Platini, Blatter’s name has not been cited in any of the damning documentation presented by the US justice authorities into widespread corruption going back two generations.
But a BBC Panorama programme to be screened tonight alleges that Blatter was directly implicated in the infamous ISL scandal of the 1990s and comes just days after the arrests and indictments of 16 more senior football officials as part of the wide-ranging FBI-led criminal inquiry into some $200 million worth of corruption.
The Panorama programme re-iterates that ISL, FIFA’s now defunct sports marketing company, paid out bribes to numerous officials including former FIFA president Joao Havelange and his Brazilian compatriot Ricardo Teixeira, one of the names indicted by US authorities last week, in exchange for TV and marketing rights.
The key Panoroma revelation, however, is that a letter apparently written by Havelange suggests Blatter was aware of the payments but took no action. “I emphasise that Mr Blatter had full knowledge of all activities,” the letter apparently says.
Blatter, who was FIFA secretary general at the time, has always denied any knowledge of bungs taken by Havelange and others but was branded “clumsy” in April 2013 by Fifa’s ethics committee over his failure to identify a bribe intended for his predecessor who is now 99.
The letter cited by Panorama is reportedly included in an FBI request to the Swiss authorities for the ISL file in order to help with their ongoing investigation. The FBI reportedly says that “among other things, the prosecutor is investigating Havelange’s statements implicating Blatter”.
The programme also rekindles the controversy over Qatar’s successful bid for the 2022 World Cup, suggesting the Gulf state spent a whopping £117 million on its campaign, far more than rival candidates.
Qatar has repeatedly denied paying bribes to FIFA officials in order to secure the tournament though two-thirds of those who voted in the 2010 ballot are either facing punishment or have already been sanctioned for ethics breaches.
The figure is provided by Lord Triesman, the former FA chairman and leader of England’s doomed 2018 bid until forced to resign from both positions following a tape recording of unproven allegations he made about Spain and Russia attempting to bribe referees.
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