FIFA has been "plunged into fresh turmoil," with the governing body's Secretary General Jérôme Valcke, outgoing President Sepp Blatter’s right-hand man since '07, having been accused of being "implicated in a scheme to sell World Cup tickets above face value and share in the profits," according to Owen Gibson of the GUARDIAN. The allegations, "denied by Valcke, have been made by a consultant at a company [Benny Alon of JB Sports Marketing] that struck a deal" with FIFA to sell tickets for the 2014 World Cup. That contract ultimately "was cancelled." Documents seen by the Guardian "appear to suggest that Valcke was to be the beneficiary of an agreement to sell the tickets at inflated prices." However the documents "are incomplete, selective and could easily be open to other interpretations." Valcke "denies he made any money out of the deal." It is understood Valcke’s position is that while there was a FIFA contract with JB Sports Marketing to sell tickets, it later became clear FIFA "was not in a position to sell these tickets and that when it became apparent that tickets were being offered at above face value Valcke warned Alon about the need to adhere to the regulations and ended up terminating the contract." Among other allegations "unsupported by any documents, made at a briefing in Zurich by Alon, an American-Israeli," is that in April '13 he withdrew around $250,000 in cash to deliver to Valcke at FIFA's HQ "as a downpayment on a deal for tickets." JB Sports Marketing "was represented at the briefing in Zurich by Heinz Schild, a lawyer and director of the company." Asked whether the company had behaved improperly in any way under Swiss law, he said, "Absolutely not." In an email which Alon claims was sent to Valcke in April '13, Alon "details how much was being made on each ticket." Alon said that the deal "ultimately collapsed," because FIFA "realised it should not have agreed to sell him the tickets as the deal did not comply with Brazilian law" (GUARDIAN, 9/17).
ON LEAVE: In London, following the release of the allegations, Wilson wrote FIFA "dramatically released" Valcke from his duties "until further notice." The FIFA statment read, "FIFA today announced that its Secretary General Jérôme Valcke has been put on leave and released from his duties effective immediately until further notice. Further, FIFA has been made aware of a series of allegations involving the Secretary General and has requested a formal investigation by the FIFA Ethics Committee" (GUARDIAN, 9/17).
