FIFA has hired a "consulting firm with links to America's failed bid to secure the 2022 World Cup," according to Richard Conway of the BBC. N.Y.-based Teneo Holdings has been retained "in the wake of the criminal investigation" launched into FIFA by the U.S. Department of Justice in May. The company's president is Doug Band, who served as a director on the U.S. 2022 World Cup bid committee. Band, together with FIFA exec committee member and U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati and others, made the final World Cup bid presentation to high-ranking officials in Zurich in '10. He served as a close adviser to former U.S. President Bill Clinton during his years in the White House. Teneo is "believed to have been hired" by FIFA following advice from Quinn Emmanuel, the American law firm working on its behalf (BBC, 7/16). REUTERS' Simon Evans reported former Democratic Senator George Mitchell, who was a special adviser to Clinton, is a "senior adviser" to Teneo. Michael
Coakley, senior VP of Teneo's strategy team, was an adviser
on that U.S. bid "as well as Qatar's unsuccessful bid" to host the 2020
Olympic Games (REUTERS, 7/16).
WATCHDOG CALLS FOR OVERHAUL: In London, Owen Gibson reported Transparency Int'l has called for an independent commission to overhaul FIFA as part of a "new manifesto drawn up in the wake of the corruption scandal" that has gripped FIFA. The global transparency watchdog, which in '11 agreed to become part of outgoing FIFA President Sepp Blatter's reform process "before withdrawing in frustration at the lack of progress," called for "far-reaching" change. It calls for an independent commission to overhaul FIFA, term limits for exec committee members, "transparency on pay and bonuses, the introduction of independent directors and for personal bribery to be further incorporated into Swiss criminal law." Transparency Int'l has now teamed up with campaigning body Avaaz, the Int'l Trade Union Congress and the NewFifaNow group to "try to push for change" (GUARDIAN, 7/15). The AP's Graham Dunbar reported Transparency Int'l said that FIFA should let "eminent public figures" lead a "truly independent reform." The organization said, "FIFA is a flawed democracy that needs to be fixed urgently. FIFA needs a truly independent reform commission led by eminent public figures to oversee reform." Four years ago, Blatter suggested former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger "could help rebuild trust in FIFA" after the controversial 2018-2022 World Cup bidding contests (AP, 7/15).
OFFICIAL EXTRADITED: In London, Moore & Sanderson reported Switzerland extradited to the U.S. the "first of seven officials held in custody in relation to a corruption investigation." The official was handed over to a three-person U.S. police escort in Zurich that accompanied him on the flight to N.Y. on Wednesday. The official was not named, but reports last week said that former FIFA VP and current CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb had agreed to be extradited to the U.S. Meanwhile, the Swiss lawyer appointed by FIFA to investigate its officials said that his work "should be made public." Supposedly independent, but funded by FIFA, the ethics committee headed by Cornel Borbély has been "widely accused of being a toothless watchdog." But Borbély blamed this perception on FIFA rules "banning him from disclosing any details about who is under investigation." He is "also unable to reveal the reasons for the committee's decisions until an appeal process concludes" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 7/16).
U.S. SENATOR SPEAKS OUT: REUTERS' Mark Hosenball reported U.S. senators on Wednesday
called for "extensive reforms" in the way football is run by both
int'l and U.S. governing bodies, and questioned what current
U.S. football chiefs "knew about corruption" in FIFA. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said, "The
facts show there had to be either wilful ignorance or blatant
incompetence on behalf of many of the members of this organization -- that's true of U.S. Soccer as well." He added that there has been "a mafia-style crime syndicate in charge of this sport." Blumenthal said, "It is almost insulting to the Mafia ... because the Mafia would never have been so blatant, overt and arrogant in its corruption" (REUTERS, 7/16).
