The "FBI is investigating the role played" by FIFA President Sepp Blatter in a $100M bribes scandal, according to the BBC. Sports marketing company ISL paid a total of $100M "to officials" including former FIFA President Joao Havelange and ex-FIFA exec Ricardo Teixeira. In return, ISL was "granted lucrative television and marketing rights throughout the 1990s." Blatter "denied knowing about the bribes and took no action." He "even allowed Teixeira to take part in the notorious vote for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups." Investigative reporter Andrew Jennings has seen a letter obtained by the FBI "which casts doubt on Blatter's denial." The letter, "apparently written by Havelange, talks about the payments he received from ISL." It says that Blatter had "full knowledge of all activities" and was "always apprised" of them. Blatter, who said that he will stand down as head of FIFA in February, "declined to respond to any allegations put to him." New evidence also revealed "how much money the Qataris spent winning the right to host the 2022 World Cup." Former FA Chair David Triesman "was given the figure by sources close to British intelligence." Triesman: "I was told by two sources that have always been very reliable with good information, good intelligence, that the sum that Qatar had spent on their bid was £117 million." That is six times what England spent on its bid for the 2018 World Cup, and "almost 12 times the American expenditure on their 2022 bid" (BBC, 12/6). The LONDON TIMES reported ISL had specialized in buying and selling broadcast rights, "most notably to World Cups, on contracts worth millions of dollars." In '01, "the company folded" with debts of £153M. A four-year investigation found that, between '92 and '00, ISL had "paid bribes to Havelange, Teixeira and Nicolás Leoz, president of Conmebol at the time." However, Havelange (honorary FIFA president) and Leoz had already resigned from their posts and Blatter was exonerated of “criminal or ethical misconduct” (LONDON TIMES, 12/7). BLOOMBERG's Andrew M. Harris reported Blatter's lawyer Richard Cullen "declined to comment on the BBC report, beyond saying his client was cooperating with the U.S. investigation." The FBI national press office could not "immediately be reached for comment outside of regular business hours" (BLOOMBERG, 12/6).
EXPEDIATED HEARING: REUTERS' Brian Homewood reported sport's highest tribunal will meet on Tuesday to "consider temporarily lifting the 90-day suspension on Michel Platini barring him from seeking the presidency" of FIFA. UEFA President Platini, who until recently "was seen as the man to lead FIFA out of its worst ever graft crisis," was suspended by FIFA's ethics committee on Oct. 8 pending a full investigation into his conduct.
Sepp Blatter, who has been FIFA president since '98, "was also suspended after being swept up by a crisis that has led to criminal investigations" into the sport in both Switzerland and the U.S.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said that it had "invited both Platini and FIFA's legal representatives to a hearing on Tuesday 'limited to the issue as to whether or not the provisional 90-day suspension imposed on M. Platini should be temporarily lifted.'" It said that "it would make a decision by Friday" (REUTERS, 12/7).
SKEPTICAL: The PA reported former UEFA CEO Gerhard Aigner "poured cold water on claims that full details of Michel Platini's FIFA contract during the late 1990s had been known by the leaders of the European governing body." Platini's lawyers now say that a memo published in a French newspaper on Sunday "could help clear the suspended UEFA president." The memo, apparently distributed to some members of UEFA's exec committee in '98 in the form of an intelligence report, states "we hear about a salary of one million Swiss francs" for Platini to take on a role with FIFA. Aigner, who retired from UEFA in '03, told German news agency SID: "I can't imagine that there was such a document. Platini was not a member of the UEFA executive committee at the time. We knew that he supported Blatter and it was clear to everybody that he would not have done that for free. But we didn't even know what salary the FIFA President Blatter, who was elected over our UEFA president Lennart Johansson, was on -- why should we have taken any interest in what Platini was being paid?" (PA, 12/7).
