By Andrew Warshaw
December 17 – The Swiss Justice Ministry has frozen millions of Swiss francs related to FIFA as football’s worst ever corruption scandal took another unexpected twist.
Just as two days of full ethics hearings began into alleged financial misconduct by Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, both currently suspended, so the Swiss confirmed they had acted on behalf of US authorities who believe corruption money may have transited through the accounts.
The news is particularly significant since until now, the US justice authorities appeared only to have the jurisdiction to probe US-based alleged financial fraud rather than spread their tentacles to Switzerland which is carrying out a separate investigation.
“US authorities asked for documents related to 50 accounts at different banks, through which corruption money is supposed to have transited,” ministry spokesman Folco Galli said in a statement Thursday, confirming a report by Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger.
Galli said a “high double-digit million amount” had been frozen following the US request. The Tages-Anzeiger reported that it could be 50-100 million Swiss francs and that numerous FIFA executives are believed to have accounts in Switzerland, including former CONMEBOL president Nicolas Leoz, one of those indicted in the corruption probe.
The ethics investigation into Blatter and Platini was launched following the decision by the Swiss attorney general to instigate criminal proceedings against the FIFA president.
As his hearing began at FIFA headquarters, Blatter insisted the 2m Swiss franc payment at the centre of the allegations against him had nothing to do with his 2011 election victory. The money was paid to Platini a few months before Blatter ran unopposed even though it was for work carried out several years previously.
“The plaintiffs have accused me of giving Platini money not for a job already done, but rather to get something. But what? That had nothing to do with the FIFA presidential election in 2011,” Blatter told the Swiss news magazine Die Weltwoche.
On Monday the Swiss government responded to questions in parliament over whether its objective, in concert with the US, was to shut down FIFA, said that it was not “currently” considering a state intervention at FIFA but fell short of ruling this out as a possibility. Today’s news of frozen accounts linked to FIFA though is potentially another step towards some form of state intervention.
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