Call for Blatter to resign over Fifa bribes

Joao Havelange, left, with Sepp Blatter in 1996, a year before the ISL cash transfer was made. Picture: AP

Blatter’s handling of the case was labelled “clumsy” but not misconduct by the investigation – though it questioned whether he knew or should have known about the millions of pounds of bribes that were paid to his predecessor, Joao Havelange, and two other South American Fifa members.

Havelange has resigned as Fifa’s honorary president in the wake of the findings, it emerged yesterday, and Damian Collins, an MP who sits on the culture, media and sport select committee and who has led a campaign for Fifa reform, insists Blatter should follow suit.

He said: “Sepp Blatter should himself resign for his failure to expose the wrongdoing sooner, and to take action earlier against those who had done wrong.

“In the light of this report, it is even more incredible that the Fifa executive committee continue to resist calls, from its own advisors, for greater independent scrutiny of its decisions and the financial interests of its members.

“The impression created by this report is one of an attempted cover-up by Fifa of this massive corruption scandal motivated by the desire to protect some of its leading officials.”

The long-awaited reported by Fifa’s ethics committee into the ISL scandal named Havelange and two former FIFA members Ricardo Teixeira and Nicolas Leoz as receiving bribes. All three have since resigned from Fifa.

The report by Fifa Adjudicatory Chamber chairman Hans-Joachim Eckert states: “Mr Havelange has long held solely an honorary position, which does not qualify him as an ‘official’ under the code of ethics. Further, Mr Havelange resigned his position as honorary president.

Eckert does question Blatter’s role in the scandal, however. He states: “It must be questioned, however, whether president Blatter knew or should have known over the years before the bankruptcy of ISL that ISL had made payments [bribes] to other Fifa officials.”

The report states that, in 1997, Blatter authorised the transfer of 1.5million Swiss francs (£1million) to Havelange after ISL mistakenly sent it to Fifa.

“But Blatter, who was then general secretary of the organisation when Havelange was president, told the ethics investigation “at that time he did not suspect the payment was a commission”.

“President Blatter’s conduct could not be classified in any way as misconduct with regard to any ethics rules,” says the report.

“The conduct of president Blatter may have been clumsy, because there could be an internal need for clarification, but this does not lead to any criminal or ethical misconduct.”

Blatter immediately issued a statement welcoming that he had been cleared of misconduct.

He said: “I also note with satisfaction that this report confirms that ‘president Blatter’s conduct could not be classified in any way as misconduct with regard to any ethics rules’.

“I have no doubt that Fifa, thanks to the governance reform process that I proposed, now has the mechanisms and means to ensure that such an issue – which has caused untold damage to the reputation of our institution – does not happen again.”

The ethics report does not state the total sum of bribes paid but says they took place over eight years between 1992 and May 2000.

“From money that passed through the ISMM/ISL Group, it is certain that not inconsiderable amounts were channelled to former Fifa president Havelange and to his son-in-law Ricardo Teixeira as well as to Dr Nicolas Leoz, whereby there is no indication that any form of service was given in return by them.

“These payments were apparently made via front companies in order to cover up the true recipient and are to be qualified as ‘commissions’, known today as ‘bribes’.”

Court documents state Havelange, now aged 96, received at least £1m and Teixeira at least £8.4m, and, in total, the pair may have received up to £14.5m. Leoz, from Paraguay and now aged 84, was named in court as having received at least £80,000.

Fifa’s ethics committee meanwhile banned Sri Lanka’s executive committee member Vernon Manilal Fernando for eight years.

A statement from Fifa did not give details of the reason for the ban, other than Fernando was “found guilty of several breaches of the Fifa code of ethics”.

Fernando, 63, has been a member of the Fifa executive since 2011 is a former close ally of Mohamed Bin Hamman, who was banned for life in December for conflicts of interest while president of the Asian Football Confederation.

Labour’s shadow sports minister Clive Efford MP called for a completely independent inquiry into the ISL scandal. Efford said: “Fifa will always remain under suspicion of corruption at the very top of the organisation unless there is an entirely independent investigation into the payments relating to the ISL contract.

“We can only conclude from the fact that no one in Fifa questioned why a major TV contractor paid £1m to president Havelange that it was commonplace for backhanders to be accepted by high-ranking officials within the organisation.

“The £1m was paid Havelange c/o Fifa. Fifa acted like a clearing bank and simply passed the money on with no questions asked.

“It is extremely disappointing to see these people lining their pockets when volunteers that run grassroots clubs are desperate for funds.

“The culprits must be identified and hounded out of our game.”

KEY FINDINGS

FIFA’s ethics committee has delivered its report into the bribery scandal involving collapsed marketing partner ISL. These are the key findings:

lBribes were paid to former Fifa president Joao Havelange, his [former] son-in-law Ricardo Teixeira and Nicolas Leoz between 1992 and 2000. These are described in the report as “not inconsiderable amounts”.

lCourt documents state Havelange received at least £1m, Teixeira at least £8.4m, and, in total, the Brazilian pair may have received up to £14.5m. Leoz, from Paraguay, was named in court as having received at least £80,000.

lFifa president Sepp Blatter’s role in the handling of the scandal is questioned. The report states: “It must be questioned, however, whether president Blatter knew or should have known over the years before the bankruptcy of ISL that ISL had made payments [bribes] to other FIFA officials.”

lBlatter, Fifa general secretary at the time, authorised the transfer of 1.5m Swiss francs (£1m) to Havelange after ISL mistakenly sent it to Fifa. He told investigators he did not realise it was a bribe.

lBlatter’s conduct was “clumsy” but “this does not lead to any criminal or ethical misconduct” says the report.

lMany facts about Fifa’s agreement to repay 2.5m Swiss francs to the ISL bankruptcy estate in a 2004 settlement still remain “in the dark”.

l“The contents of the [2004] settlement may very well be seen to have been affected by a conflict of interest,” says the report, as the 2.5m Swiss francs partly came from Teixeira, one of the beneficiaries of the bribes.

lThe resignations of Havelange, Teixeira and Leoz mean “no further proceedings related to the ISL matter are warranted against any other football official”.

lThe head of African football and Fifa vice-president, Issa Hayatou, was disciplined by the International Olympic Committee in 2011 after being named by the BBC’s Panorama as receiving around £10,000 from ISL in 1995. Hayatou is not referred to at all in the

Fifa ethics report.