By Andrew Warshaw
September 16 – South America’s football confederation CONMEBOL has approved an anti-corruption reform plan it hopes will herald a new era after a string of its senior officials were caught up in the US probe into alleged widespread fraud.
The move comes after former CONMEBOL presidents Nicolás Leoz and Eugenio Figueredo were both cited as being among the senior FIFA officials and marketing executives charged in May as part of the FBI investigation as was Venezuelan federation president Rafael Esquivel.
Of the14 football officials and sports marketing executives indicted in the United States in May on bribery, money laundering and wire fraud charges involving more than $150 million in payments, eight were from South America.
CONMEBOL said its executive committee had now approved a “comprehensive review of the management model and the organisational structure”. Ernst & Young had been called in to implement the reforms and the audit firm started work at the confederation’s headquarters in Asuncion, Paraguay, on Monday.
Figueredo and Esquivel are still being held in Switzerland pending extradition after they were arrested in Zurich on the eve of the FIFA Congress in May.
The reforms were drafted last month at a meeting in St Petersburg on the fringes of the World Cup qualifying draw. In a four-page document, CONMEBOL’s Director General Gorka Villar said background checks on potential commercial partners would be put in place and future contracts not made with individuals facing legal charges. In a virtual mirror image of FIFA’s proposals, term limits will also be included.
Bribes of up to $110 million were promised to CONMEBOL officials, of which $40 million have already been paid, according to the US indictment. For years, CONMEBOL’s headquarters enjoyed legal immunity but Paraguayan lawmakers have now stripped the confederation of this privilege.
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