By Samindra Kunti and Andrew Warshaw
March 15 – Having bowed to global pressure and finally banned former Brazilian FA boss Marco Polo Del Nero for 90 days, FIFA’s ethics committee has extended the suspension for a further 45 days while it continues to investigate his alleged role in taking bribes.
It is believed that FIFA had little or no independent evidence of its own to investigate to accusations against Del Nero and relied entirely on the documentation from the US Department of Justice. With the extension of another 45 days, Del Nero’s suspension will reach 135 days. An extension beyond that is not possible.
But as the net closes in around Del Nero, Brazilian media have reported that he is working behind the scenes to manoeuvre the successor of his choice into the top job at the CBF. Del Nero has picked Rogerio Langanhe Cabloco, who is already a part of the CBF’s executive, as his potential successor. The move suggests Del Nero expects to be banned for life from all football activities by FIFA’s ethics committee.
Cabloco’s election requires 20 out of 27 votes from the presidents of the state federations. CBF’s presidential elections are scheduled for April 16 and Cabloco’s presidency seems assured. Last week the news leaked that the CBF has a sweetener for the state federations presidents: a trip to the World Cup to attend all three of Brazil’s group matches in Russia. The CBF underlined the rationale behind the invitation as an opportunity for the state federations to better understand the organisation of a major football event.
“Marco Polo (Del Nero) presided a good administration at CBF,” said Evandro Carvalho, president of Pernambuco and fierce defender of Del Nero. “We understand that the mandate is his and it is on the incumbent to indicate his successor. It does not make sense to divide, at a time when we need to end this cloud hovering over the CBF. Marco Polo is dedicated to his defense. If he is acquitted, he can return to football, wherever he may be: in a club, in a federation, or even help CBF.”
The Federations of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo will not back up Cabloco, according to media reports. Those two states from the heartland of Brazilian football, arguably together with Minas Gerais and Rio Grande de Sul, and some clubs have been dismayed at the political machinations within the CBF. Corinthians president Andres Sanchez spoke of a ‘low blow.’
Del Nero’s charge sheet
Del Nero was in Zurich at the time of the original May 2015, spate of arrests that prompted the FIFA-gate scandal but left immediately for Brazil, which has no extradition treaty with the US, once the FBI and Swiss police swooped.
He was later indicted himself but has remained in Brazil ever since, maintaining his innocence despite a string of charges against him for racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering.
Defiant to the last, in January via video link Del Nero – a former member of FIFA’s executive committee – continued to defend himself during a five and a half hour hearing before a FIFA ethics panel even though the seven charges against him include the receipt of $6.5 million in bribes in connection with the award of broadcast and marketing rights.
During the trial of three other South American powerbrokers at the heart of the FIFA-gate scandal, one of the recurrent names in the prosecutor’s case and the defendants submissions was that of Del Nero, especially when it came to hearings concerning his predecessor Jose Maria Marin.
Marin was found guilty and is expected to be sentenced in April but has demanded that the verdict be annulled or replaced by a new trial, according to Brazilian media reports. He is insisting that he should be acquitted, even though he was found guilty of six crimes. The 85-year-old’s lawyers argue that because the prosecutor didn’t offer sufficient proof of Marin’s involvement in bribery, there is little ground for a criminal conviction.
Marin’s defense lawyer, in his closing remarks in New York, said his client was a mere bit-part player in the corruption schemes. Charles Stillman told jurors that “Del Nero ran the show.”
Intriguingly, FIFA’s ethics bosses now face a race against time to wrap up their case against Del Nero and decide what permanent action to take since the extension of 45 days cannot be extended again.
Contact the writers of this story at moc.l1735232779labto1735232779ofdlr1735232779owedi1735232779sni@w1735232779ahsra1735232779w.wer1735232779dna1735232779 or moc.l1735232779labto1735232779ofdlr1735232779owedi1735232779sni@o1735232779fni1735232779