Britain's fraud office has received new information regarding possible money laundering by FIFA officials as it continues its investigations, which started earlier in May this year.
Several members of FIFA have already been arrested in connection with various corruption practices by authorities in both the United States and Switzerland. A raid in a Zurich hotel prior to the FIFA presidential elections in May lead to the arrest of seven FIFA officials, while several members of the world governing body have been suspended or banned since then. Sepp Blatter was forced into announcing his resignation a few days after winning the elections after coming under increasing pressure for the various corrupt practices FIFA members have allegedly involved in so far.
Earlier this month, both Sepp Blatter and UEFA president Michel Platini were both provisionally suspended for 90 days. Blatter is alleged to have signed a TV broadcast rights deal that caused financial losses for FIFA, and is also accused of making a ‘disloyalty payment’ to Platini back in 2011, ahead of the presidential elections that year.
The Swiss authorities have also proceeded to investigate the bidding process for the hosting rights to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, which were awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively, with both countries having denied any wrongdoing so far.
English authorities are now investigating to see if they can investigate FIFA officials on bribery charges, along with the money laundering and fraud charges. The fraud office is reportedly looking into a particular payment made to former FIFA official Jack Warner which could have been routed Sydney to Trinidad in the Caribbean via London for money laundering, while they have also been trying to look at any instances of bribery related to the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, but has not had much success so far.
"We are still examining issues around possible money laundering. I can’t yet go into detail about that but there are several aspects to it and some new information has come to us quite recently. My position would be that we cannot touch FIFA with the Bribery Act as things stand," David Green, the director of the Serious Fraud Office said in a hearing with British lawmakers, according to Reuters.
Green has claimed that presently his office does not have enough evidence to start a criminal investigation, and that without having a criminal investigation, information could not be gathered from others, including the Swiss and American authorities who have made most of the arrests so far. He has however insisted that the SFO was doing all it could to investigate various charges, including an allegation that Jack Warner demanded a multi-million bribe from the English F.A in relation to the 2018 World Cup bid.
“Don’t get the impression this is a closed book on a shelf at the SFO. We are getting new information in quite frequently,” Green added.
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authorities當局
investigation調查
fraud騙局
provisionally臨時
suspended暫停
disloyalty不忠實
This news made me shocked. I think it is so ridiculous to do this. There are many officials bribery every day and every time. To my opinion, their salaries are far enough for their use, but they are unsatisfied. They want more money than they have now. They are greedy.
回覆刪除As a human, there is no one who don't like money. But it can't be allowed to do corruption because it made many people disappointed. I cannot come up with why they want to do this. I hope they can change their mind and not do again.
回覆刪除Everyone loves money. However you should not gain money thought improper ways. Although I don’t watch soccer games, I know some people view soccer as a holy sport. The FIFA scandal made them disappointed. When things are associated money will be complicated. I think the simplest way is not to take money which you should not take.
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