Corruption in soccer on 'mafia-like scale', says reporter
By OffshoreAlert, March 30, 2010
In a few months, soccer's FIFA World Cup will take place in South Africa. The month-long tournament is the biggest sports event in the world. It is also the most corrupt, according to British investigative reporter and film-maker Andrew Jennings.
Yet, despite compelling evidence of illegal activity on a scale that you typically associate with organized crime, FIFA's bosses are feted by governments who claim to be against corruption, including the USA, and are allowed to launder their illegal proceeds by banks that are supposed to comply with anti-money laundering legislation, says Jennings.
Andrew
Jennings
With the world’s biggest sporting event – soccer’s FIFA World Cup – soon to take place, journalist and film-maker Andrew Jennings will present evidence of bribery and corruption at FIFA, which governs the sport globally, and CONCACAF, which controls the game in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Find out why FIFA’s bosses consider him ‘Public Enemy Number One’ at the 8th Annual OffshoreAlert Financial Due Diligence Conference, which will be held at The Ritz-Carlton, South Beach on May 2-4, 2010.
And their transgressions are largely ignored by journalists whose love of the sport and fear of being denied access to matches seems to outweigh their desire to inform the public of what is going on, adds the journalist.
"It's almost as if the sport has become so big and so popular with the general public that it is off-limits to law enforcement and regulators," says Jennings.
According to the reporter, two men at the heart of the culture of corruption are Swiss national Sepp Blatter, who, as president of FIFA, governs the sport globally, and Trinidad & Tobago national Jack Warner, who runs the sport in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
They have collectively diverted tens of millions of dollars through a culture of bribery and corruption regarding the bidding process that countries take part in to host the four-yearly tournament, television rights, ticket sales, and merchandising, alleges Jennings.
"Deals are done in back-rooms with little transparency or accountability, relatives and friends are often improperly awarded contracts, and investigations into suspicious activity are thwarted at every opportunity by Blatter and his associates," says Jennings. "It is immoral, unethical, illegal and, frankly, sinister."
One example is that ticketing for the World Cup is handled exclusively by a "cartel operated by Blatter's nephew and two of his cronies". Another example is that there is clear evidence that Jack Warner defrauded millions of dollars from players who represented Trinidad & Tobago at the 2006 World Cup by concealing approximately US$24 million in revenue they were supposed to share in.
"Utterly corrupt, Warner steals from every aspect of the game, regionally and world-wide," says Jennings. "Twenty years ago he was a poor school teacher. Now he is a multi-millionaire controlling 35 of FIFA’s 208 national associations. He is the untouchable. Oh, and he got a warm reception at the White House last summer. Doesn’t Obama get warned about these people?"
Jennings has investigated FIFA for many years and he will present his findings in a session on corruption at the 8th Annual OffshoreAlert Financial Due Diligence Conference, in conjunction with Grant Thornton, that will take place at The Ritz-Carlton, South Beach in Miami Beach, Florida on May 2-4, 2010.
The conference specializes in covering serious financial crime committed on an international scale, with an emphasis on Offshore Financial Centers. The three main themes are 'Fraud & Asset Recover', 'Money Laundering & Compliance' and 'Investigations & Intelligence'
The conference is known for attempting to get to the facts of topics that it covers, rather than paying them lip service, and naming names, rather than attempting to spare the embarrassment of individuals and companies, including the world's best-known banks, who are implicated in illegal activity.
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