FIFA [alleged] corruption

[liquidfootball2]

Read this earlier today too

Earlier on Thursday, former Israel player Benny Alon said at a press conference in Zurich that he agreed in 2013 to pay cash to Valcke to secure plum World Cup tickets in Brazil. He said the plan was to then sell the tickets to fans at a markup and split the proceeds with Valcke.

Valcke "unequivocally" denied the allegations as "fabricated and outrageous" in a statement from his US lawyer Barry Berke.

"Mr. Valcke never received or agreed to accept any money or anything else of value from Mr. Alon," the statement said. "FIFA entered into an agreement with Mr. Alon's company, JB Sports Marketing. That agreement and FIFA's subsequent business dealings with Mr. Alon were vetted and approved by FIFA and its legal counsel." 

Alon's allegations come on top of probes by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Swiss Attorney General's Office into corruption at FIFA following the indictment of 14 senior officials and sports marketing executives in May.

[Moist von Lipwig]

"The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) has opened criminal proceedings against the President of Fedeeration Internationale de Football Association (Fifa) on suspicion of criminal mismanagement as well as – alternatively – on suspicion of misappropriation."

http://www.theguardian.com/football/201 ... ey-general


Get in.

[DrBunker]

After such a long time after his underlings were arrested? I hope he's had time to clear out his browser history and shred any incriminating documents.

Is the timing of the WC news a coincidence or timed by FIFA to detract from this story as much as possible..? Good luck with that.

[liquidfootball2]

Sepp Blatter under criminal investigation by Swiss officials over 'disloyalty payment' to Michel Platini



Platini payment said to be for working for Blatter from 1999 + 2002, before he joined the ExCo. Why wasn't it paid until 2011 is big question.

[RomynPG]

oldie but goodie...

[liquidfootball2]

Seth Vertelney @svertelney

Since Blatter is on his way out anyway, Platini not succeeding him could be the most significant possible outcome from all this

4:04 PM - 25 Sep 2015

[DrBunker]

Yep, that was my first thought too. That being said, it's hard to imagine anyone could get near the top of FIFA without having been corrupted in some way so I can't see any of the alternatives having clean consciousnesses sadly.

[liquidfootball2]

Platini with his Qatar connections seems to have his fingers in most pies.

Rather like countryman Jerome Valcke he's usually got his legitimate reason sorted out well in advance. It remains to be seen whether the Swiss authorities can do what they should have done years ago and get rid of both Blatter and Platini.

At least they've opened criminal proceedings against Blatter and will hopefully catch Platini in the same web.

The Swiss did nothing for years and have almost been shamed into acting following the FBI's well publicised raids.

[pulpfiction]

I favour Prince Ali bin Hussein of Jordan.

An honest man is required.

[Mav3rick]

I favour Prince Ali bin Hussein of Jordan.

An honest man is required.

Isn't he just a puppet of the European associations?

In such a large and twisted organisation, I doubt there's anyone honest anywhere near the top.

[Tacalabala]

I would prefer someone outside football to come in for 2, 3 years to sort out the situation, the biggest risk now is that paperwork and hard drives are going missing...

[Moist von Lipwig]

I would prefer someone outside football to come in for 2, 3 years to sort out the situation, the biggest risk now is that paperwork and hard drives are going missing...

There's a car executive currently looking for a job...

[liquidfootball2]

Platini is obviously innocent as it's just normal to be paid for work done in 2002 in 2011 shortly before Sepp Blatter again ran for president, how can anyone think otherwise?

Takes a while for two million Swiss Francs to clear through the system, pretty obvious really.

[liquidfootball2]

All the journalists on the Sunday Correspondent roundly slated Mr Corruption himself, Michel 'Qatar' Platini.

It would be by far the best outcome of the Blatter case if they managed to drag Blatter's so long heir-apparent down with him.

Our own FA and Greg Dyke, having so publicly backed Platini, now have serious questions to answer too, surely they knew of all the Qatar stuff and mysterious payments for work done a decade previously? Possibly there might have been future tournaments offered to them or some very real inducements, who knows. It looks like no one comes out of this at all well.

[Tacalabala]

It's a massive jump to say Dyke knows if Platini did anything. The whole Olympiakos situation doess raise questions though.

[liquidfootball2]

It's a massive jump to say Dyke knows if Platini did anything. The whole Olympiakos situation doess raise questions though.

To be fair the Qatar meetings and subsequent payments just prior to them being awarded the 2022 World Cup tournament (probably for work done nine or ten years previously) have been well publicised and documented in our press. I honestly suspect it was just a lot easier to simply turn a blind eye, go ahead and support him and hope for favours in the near to medium term. At least he's not Sepp Blatter even if he could be a lot worse.

[morganb]

BREAKING NEWS: Blatter staying on as FIFA president as has done "nothing illegal or improper" says statement from his lawyer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34384930

[sleuth]

Blatter has more lives than Brendan Rodgers.

Why don't they just lock him up and let him rot till all that's left is bones. Better still why dont they just bring in a Firing squad.

[murf]

Knowing Blatter's teflonicity the firing squad would be Balotelli, Borini and Rob Jones....

[liquidfootball2]

Sepp Blatter must step down as Fifa president immediately, say Coca-Cola and McDonald's

Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Visa have called for Sepp Blatter to step down as Fifa president immediately following corruption allegations.

The companies, who are three of the major sponsors of the world footballing body, acted after Swiss authorities opened a criminal investigation into Mr Blatter.

Mr Blatter’s departure would allow a “credible and sustainable reform process” to begin, Coca Cola said on Friday.

“Every day that passes, the image and reputation of Fifa continues to tarnish,” Coca-Cola said in an emailed statement. “Fifa needs comprehensive and urgent reform, and that can only be accomplished through a truly independent approach.”

McDonald's said in a statement that: "The events of recent weeks have continued to diminish the reputation of FIFA and public confidence in its leadership."

Mr Blatter's lawyer said in a statement on Friday night that the 79-year-old Swiss "will not resign".

"While Coca-Cola is a valued sponsor of Fifa, Mr Blatter respectfully disagrees with its position and believes firmly that his leaving office now would not be in the best interest of Fifa nor would it advance the process of reform and therefore, he will not resign," the statement said.

The move by the sponsors follows a push by Coca-Cola for Fifa to adopt an independent commission that can reform the organisation and “win back the trust of all who love the sport”.

Sponsors such as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Visa pay tens of millions of pounds annually to associate with Fifa and the tournament.

Mr Blatter, who took over in 1998, was planning to stay at Fifa until a replacement is elected in February but has said he will not run for re-election.

It was alleged last week in a statement by the Attorney General of Switzerland that Mr Blatter paid Michel Platini, his nearest rival in a leadership election £1.3million "weeks" before the Frenchman pulled out of the contest.

Mr Blatter, who took over in 1998, was planning to stay at Fifa until a replacement is elected in February but has said he will not run for re-election.

Investigators believe Mr Blatter improperly used Fifa funds to direct two million Swiss Francs to his closest challenger for FIFA’s top job in February 2011.

The two men were scheduled to go head-to-head in a June election involving representatives of all six global football federations, before Mr Platini suddenly withdrew from the contest.

Fifa also faces a corruption investigation in the US and Switzerland.

[DrBunker]

Mr Blatter’s departure would allow a “credible and sustainable reform process” to begin, Coca Cola said on Friday.

Yep, that's definitely what's going to happen whenever Blatter goes. That's the sad thing about all of this; he's become the face of corruption and getting rid of him will be deemed to be a win for the organisation whereas it just opens the door for the next (alleged ) bribery fan to enter.

[jimmy ching]

Mc Do's and Coca Cola should keep out of the Who should be President saga. They should just withdraw sponsorship with out interfering in the election process of said body. It is not their place.

[Vid]

Mc Do's and Coca Cola should keep out of the Who should be President saga. They should just withdraw sponsorship with out interfering in the election process of said body. It is not their place.

They can't/ won't do that as if they withdraw there are plenty of others ready to take their places. There is no such thing as bad publicity for those that want to be in the public eye ....

[DrBunker]

And this is a big win for them, rather than pay millions for WC coverage they get positive press for being morally sound absolutely free.

I know that's a different argument to whether they should or not but it explains why they won't.

[liquidfootball2]

Blatter provisionally suspended

http://news.sky.com/story/1565535/fifa- ... -suspended

Bad for Platini too and embarrassing for Dyke.

[liquidfootball2]

Blatter, Valcke and Platini suspended for 90 days

Greg Dyke in hiding probably

[Stower79]

So Blatter gets suspended for 90 days by his own Ethics Committee that he set-up, which has already been accused of a number of non-disclosures, inaccuracies / cover-ups with Garcia's full report last year into the World Cup bids.

Forgive me for my cynicism but Blatter runs FIFA. He is FIFA! This latest 'development' only smacks of Blatter engineering a situation whereby the heat goes off him for 90 days and he doesn't need to deal with all the media interviews/questioning that comes with all the corruption allegations. He can then potentially reappear before the election to exert his influence in whatever form that may be.

I don't really see how these FIFA suspensions really change much apart from Blatter trying to take down all of his former mates. 'If I'm going down then the rest of you are as well'. But we'll see. I'm quite surprised the mainstream media is really swallowing this nonsense.

Only when Blatter is charged with corruption will he be forced to resign or be properly suspended. Hopefully that day will come sooner rather than later.

This whole thing is becoming more and more of a farce every day.

[DrBunker]

Blatter, Valcke and Platini suspended for 90 days

Not forgetting: "The former FIFA Vice-President Chung Mong joon has been banned for six years and fined CHF 100,000 (£67,269)."

*cough* scapegoat *cough*

[murf]

Forgive me for my cynicism but Blatter runs FIFA. He is FIFA! This latest 'development' only smacks of Blatter engineering a situation whereby the heat goes off him for 90 days.....

All makes sense but I thought Blatter had effectively conceded that he couldn't be re-elected and was grooming Platini to take over - so why take action against Platini who was trying to look sufficiently squeaky clean?

[foxinthebox2001]

Forgive me for my cynicism but Blatter runs FIFA. He is FIFA! This latest 'development' only smacks of Blatter engineering a situation whereby the heat goes off him for 90 days.....

All makes sense but I thought Blatter had effectively conceded that he couldn't be re-elected and was grooming Platini to take over - so why take action against Platini who was trying to look sufficiently squeaky clean?

I would suspect that taking into account the amount of arrests made so far, what you will get now is many ex delegates ratting on each other to get lenient sentences.
Note that when the latest story first broke Platini seemed more bothered about where the 'leek' came from than claiming innocence.
He wants to know who he can and cant make even more allegations against.