$140+ Million Bribes: How to Hold Blatter & Co. Accountable?

The biggest corruption scandal in sports history just got bigger when BBC Television disclosed evidence that FIFA officials had taken $100 million in bribes. How can Sepp Blatter and his cronies be held accountable for their Qatar (rhymes with "gutter") politics?

According to documents revealed by the English TV station BBC, at least three members of the world football (soccer) federation FIFA received bribes in the millions of dollars from the former sports marketing agency ISL/ISMM.

They are Ricardo Teixeira, chief of the Brazilian Football Confederation that will stage the 2014 World Cup; Nicolas Leoz of Paraguay, chief of the Latin American football confederation CONMEBOL; and Issa Hayatou of Cameroon, the president of the African confederation CAF, who is also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOK).

(Two other recipients of kickbacks are also members of the IOK, which will have a lot of explaining to do: the FIFA honorary president Joao Havelange of Brazil and Lamine Diack, president of the track & field world federation IAAF.)

A secret document lists 175 payments to officials. Teixeira, the top earner, received some $9.5 million in 21 payments through a front company in Liechtenstein called Sanud.

That was up to 1999. By 2001 Teixeira cashed in another $2.5 million. And if that were not enough, in his dual roles as president of Brazil's Football Confederation and chief of the 2014 World Cup organizing committee, he made contracts with himself that guarantee him vast portions of an eventual profit.

Leoz was named in court papers for receiving $130,000. But now a secret ISL document lists another $600,000 Leoz got in three installments of $200,000 each.

Teixeira, Havelange (who happens to be Teixeira's ex-father-in-law) and Leoz were already known for previous transgressions.  Now Hayatou and Diack have joined the list of offenders.

Will FIFA president Sepp Blatter fall over this scandal, as he did physically in the video below, to the delight of gleeful Italian commentators?



The $100 million in bribes now documented are likely only the tip of the iceberg.

And the BBC documents show that most of the secret payments went via front firms and foundations in numerous countries in an ingenious and labyrinthine system that involved lawyers, tax advisers and renowned auditing firms.

Far from promising action to bring the scoundrels to justice, Sepp Blatter rose to defend them.

In a statement, the FIFA president said that a 2008 court case had largely exonerated ISL officials, and that "no FIFA officials were accused of any criminal offence in these proceedings."

The FIFA president argues in his press conference below that if six people out of 300 million football/soccer lovers are corrupt, that does not mean that the whole of football is corrupt.

With all due respect, Mr. Blatter's reasoning is a bit flawed. If top cabinet members of a country of many million people were found to commit illegal activities, they would have to resign.

If the evidence showed that top managers of a large company are corrupt, they would have to resign. And so would the CEO under whose watch the wrongdoings happened. Witness Enron.

Under no circumstances would a president cover up illegal activities of his senior officials and get away with it.

Why should FIFA be any different?

What do you think? How can corrupt senior FIFA officials be brought to justice? What should be done, and who should do it, to return integrity to football? I look forward to reading your comments on my blog.

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