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FIFA scandal: Where we are now

───   12:54 Fri, 29 May 2015

FIFA scandal: Where we are now | News Article

Zurich - The world of football was thrown into disarray on Wednesday in Zurich when Swiss police swooped in on a luxury hotel to arrest a number of FIFA members indicted over corruption allegations spanning more than two decades and involving sums in excess of $150 million.

What has happened since Wednesday?

BLATTER RE-ELECTION ALL BUT GUARANTEED

With FIFA refusing to postpone the vote on its next president despite the chaos that followed the arrests, Sepp Blatter is likely to remain in charge of the organisation at the centre of its biggest ever controversy.

FIFA's 209 members are expected to elect Blatter for his fifth term on Friday. Blatter needs 105 votes to beat Prince Ali - Blatter has almost 100 votes guaranteed with CAF and the AFC's unwavering support which means the incumbent president only needs a further 5 votes to win the election.

UEFA COULD SPLIT FROM FIFA

One of Blatter's most ardent foes is current UEFA president Michel Platini.

Since the latest scandal has broken, Platini has again asked Blatter to resign but the 79-year-old Swiss football administrator again defiantly refused this request.

Could UEFA withdraw from FIFA? There has never been such a drastic step taken in the game but this scandal could be one too many for those trying to keep the "beautiful game" beautiful.

The English FA's vice-chairman David Gill has said that he will refuse to serve on any executive committee if Blatter wins the election while Platini hinted at a possible withdrawal from FIFA saying that if Blatter wins election then the European nations would meet in Berlin on June 6 to review their relations with FIFA.

Platini added "We will raise all possibilities," when quizzed if this could mean pulling out of FIFA competitions.
WHO ARE CO-CONSPIRATOR'S #15 AND #16?

The United States indictment describes the two South Africans involved as “high-ranking officials of the 2006 South Africa World Cup bid committee and the 2010 South Africa World Cup bid committee and local organising committee”.
According to the indictment: "At various times relevant to the Indictment, co-conspirator #15 was a high-ranking official of the 2006 South Africa World Cup bid committee and the 2010 South Africa World Cup bid committee and local organising committee.

"At various times relevant to the Indictment, co-conspirator #16 was a high-ranking official of the 2006 South Africa World Cup bid committee and the 2010 South Africa World Cup bid committee and local organising committee."
As best can be determined, only three officials served on both the 2006 World Cup bid committee and the 2010 Soccer World Cup bid committee and local organising committee.

They were, Danny Jordaan, Tokyo Sexwale and Irvin Khoza.

TWO KEY POINTS FROM FIKILE MBALULA'S STATEMENT ON THE MATTER

In the Sport and Recreation Minister's statement on the issue, he said: "Our financial records and books for the 2010/11 Financial years and those before and after the period of the world cup have been audited by the Auditor General of South Africa and no such amount has been found on our books."

The Honourable Minister is correct.

The US indictment paints a different picture. Different but equalling damning. It says: "that the South Africans were unable to arrange for the payment to be made directly from government funds. Arrangements were thereafter made with FIFA officials to instead have the $10 million sent from FIFA - using funds that would otherwise have gone from FIFA to South Africa to support the World Cup - to CFU."

Mbalula says the SA government has not received a copy of the indictment. "We will study carefully the copy of the indigment (indictment) once received from the US government through the Diplomatic channels and we will pronounce further after carefully studying it." said Mbalula.

HOW MUCH WAS ALLEGEDLY PAID TO SECURE THE 2010 WORLD CUP IN SOUTH AFRICA

It is quite important to note that according to the US indictment, there was there two payments made to secure the 2010 Soccer World Cup would be hosted by South Africa. These payments can be described as the "Paris payment" and "the FIFA payment" - both payments were made to ensure Jack Warner and two others, one being Chuck Blazer, voted in favour of South Africa.

The "Paris payment": The indictment describes this payment as "At one point, Jack Warner also directed Co-Conspirator #14 to fly to Paris, France and accept a briefcase containing bundles of U.S. currency in $10,000 stacks in a hotel room from Co-Conspirator #15, a highranking South African bid committee official". The timing of this payment has not been determined but it would appear to have occurred before the 2004 vote to determine the host of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

The actual "FIFA payment" was $10 million and the payment occurred in January 2008 and was made from a FIFA bank in Zurich to US accounts of the CFU and CONCACAF, which were controlled by Jack Warner.

The money came from FIFA because "the South Africans were unable to arrange for the payment to be made directly from government funds".

The amount allegedly paid in bribes to Warner is therefor $10 million plus the "Paris payment".

SAFA SILENT
The South African Football Association has confirmed to Sport24 that the organisation will not be issuing a statement on the matter in accordance with statement issued by South Africa's Department of Sport and Recreation.

"As this is a matter of national importance, we call upon all who were involved in the process of bidding and execution of the 2010 FIFA World Cup to desist from making statements and to afford the National Government of the Republic of South Africa through the Ministry and Department of Sport and Recreation to handle this matter through the diplomatic channels."

THE BIG PLAYERS IN SOUTH AFRICA NOT SAYING A WORD
Current SAFA president Danny Jordaan on Thursday could not be drawn to comment on the allegations of corruption around the 2010 World Cup. During a briefing after his swearing in as Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Jordaan repeatedly evaded the questions..

News24's attempts to contact Tokyo Sexwale were fruitless.

Irvin Khoza was said to be in Zurich and was not answering his phone.
THE NET IS CLOSING IN...

Jack Warner, the man central to the current US indictment and it's connection to the 2010 Soccer World Cup has surrendered to authorities. He is out on bail and is expected to appear in court in July.
Nine FIFA officials and four executives of sports management companies have already been arrested.
Former CONCACAF vice-president Chuck Blazer has already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to a number of charges including: conspiracy to commit racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering, income tax evasion and failure to report foreign bank accounts.

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch has made huge waves in the football world but it would appear the biggest storms are still to come...
 
- News24.com

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