A source said that Swiss authorities "are examining development grants made by FIFA around the world as part of their investigation into the sport's global governing body and its award of World Cup hosting rights for Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022," according to Mark Hosenball of REUTERS. In particular, the investigators "are looking at how the money was spent and whether there is any falsification of documents, said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity." The grants mainly go to national FAs and are often "earmarked for new football pitches and related facilities, or for training programs." The source said that information technology specialists from Switzerland's federal police agency, as well as prosecutors and financial experts, "are poring over masses of evidence collected by the office of Switzerland's Attorney General." The evidence "includes voluminous internal records, most in digitized form, seized from the offices of FIFA's President Sepp Blatter," Secretary General Jérôme Valcke and Finance & Administrative Dir Markus Kattner. The source said "almost everything" in Valcke's office had been seized. Both Russia and Qatar "have vehemently denied there was anything irregular in their selection in the face of competition" from rival bidders such as England and the U.S. Swiss investigators "have multiple lines of inquiry to pursue in connection with the Qatar 2022 award." The source, however, said that evidence related to the 2018 Moscow World Cup award "is proving difficult to find" (REUTERS, 6/25).
