World-renowned investigator Andrew Jennings said that he has "got the documents to back the allegation" former Oceania Football Confederation President Charlie Dempsey took a $250,000 bribe, according to Simon Plumb of the NEW ZEALAND HERALD. Jennings "has spent two decades digging around" FIFA and is also the man the FBI turned to for help in its corruption probe. In his latest book, The Dirty Game: Uncovering the Scandal at Fifa, Jennings alleges that "the reason New Zealand and Oceania football boss Dempsey infamously abstained from a crucial 2000 vote to decide who would host the 2006 World Cup" was because Dempsey took a $250,000 bribe to swing the vote away from South Africa and to eventual host Germany. Dempsey admitted that "attempts were made to bribe him," but said that "he stayed honest." But Jennings said that "he has got evidence." Jennings said that "he possesses documents which detail 175 bribes" totaling more than $100M -- years of "top-secret payments" made to football officials from the now defunct sports marketing company Int'l Sport and Leisure, which used to sell FIFA's lucrative World Cup TV rights. Jennings obtained those documents in '10, "details which even brought the FBI knocking for the information." Jennings "was happy to help," and, he said, that is also where Dempsey's paper trail lies -- a cash payment of $250,000 made on the same day Dempsey "suddenly walked out of the World Cup vote," later citing "intolerable pressure" (NZ HERALD, 9/14).
THE FIFA LAW: REUTERS' Joshua Franklin wrote lawmakers in Switzerland "paved the way for new rules that make it easier for authorities to clamp down on corruption at sporting bodies based in the country such as FIFA." Anti-corruption campaigners "pushed Swiss authorities for years to bring sporting bodies -- once a source of national prestige -- under more legal scrutiny." Both chambers of parliament have now agreed to the latest draft of the new law, so closely associated with FIFA that it has been dubbed "Lex FIFA," the FIFA law. The senate "approved it on Thursday." A spokesperson for parliament said that "a final vote on the law will be held on Sept. 25" (REUTERS, 9/11).
IMPROPER SUPPORT: The AP reported FIFA presidential contender Chung Mong-joon "criticized election monitors who cleared the Asian Football Confederation of improperly supporting" UEFA President Michel Platini. The former FIFA VP from South Korea said the FIFA-appointed committee investigated for only three days and forfeited its "duty to ensure the fairness of the election." He "filed a complaint" after the AFC sent members a template letter soliciting support for Platini (AP, 9/11).
FIGHT AGAINST DOPING: ESPN reported UEFA announced that it will introduce "the strongest anti-doping programme ever seen in European football" this season. It will introduce the World Anti-Doping Agency's steroidal biological passport "to improve the identification of steroid use." There will also be "a strengthening of rules related to team and player whereabouts; long-term sample storage to permit the retrospective identification of prohibited substances; and a continuation of its comprehensive blood and urine testing programme" (ESPN, 9/11).
