Top Fifa officials Rhiannon Martin (left) and Marion Mayer-Vorfelder at Orakei Marae yesterday. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Top Fifa officials Rhiannon Martin (left) and Marion Mayer-Vorfelder at Orakei Marae yesterday. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Spotlight stays on U-20 World Cup after top football chiefs held in FBI corruption probe.
Police swooped on football's global governing body in Switzerland yesterday - alleging corruption over two decades - as world officials were welcomed to an Auckland marae to launch the Fifa Under-20 World Cup in New Zealand.
Six Fifa delegates were arrested as part of an FBI probe at a luxury hotel in Zurich in early morning raids ahead of the Fifa congress and presidential election.
They have been detained by Swiss police at the request of US authorities, who allege they accepted more than $150 million in bribes linked to commercial deals dating back to the 1990s for football tournaments in the United States and Latin America.
"Our focus remains on organising a great Fifa U-20 World Cup, starting on Saturday. We do not anticipate that these events will impact on the tournament." At a press conference in Zurich late last night, a Fifa spokesman said it was no surprise Swiss authorities had made arrests in relation to a corruption probe involving the world football body.
The spokesman said Fifa itself gave a report into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar to Swiss judicial authorities last November, so the arrests were "the consequences of what we initiated".
The arrests are believed to have stemmed from an FBI investigation into the process that led to Russia and Qatar getting the rights to host the World Cup finals in 2018 and 2022.
The New York Times reported that as Fifa delegates gathered for their annual meeting, more than a dozen plain-clothed Swiss law enforcement officials arrived unannounced at the Baur au Lac hotel, arresting several high-ranking football officials. Some were handcuffed, others went willingly with the police.
Two current Fifa vice presidents were among those arrested.
They and the others are connected with the regional soccer confederations of North and South America and the Caribbean.
The Swiss Federal Office of Justice said in a statement that US authorities suspected the officials had received or paid bribes totalling millions of dollars and the crimes were agreed to and prepared in the US, and payments carried out via American banks.
In a Brooklyn, New York court yesterday, nine Fifa officials and five corporate executives were indicted for racketeering, conspiracy and corruption.
The defendants also include US and South American sports marketing executives who are alleged to have systematically paid and agreed to pay well over $150 million in bribes and kickbacks to obtain lucrative media and marketing rights to international football tournaments.
Four individuals and two corporate defendants have pleaded guilty, including Charles Blazer, former general secretary of Concacaf (the Fifa confederation covering North and Central America and the Caribbean) and former US representative on the Fifa executive committee; Jose Hawilla, owner and founder of Traffic Group, a multinational sports marketing conglomerate; and two of his Florida-based companies.
A search warrant was also executed at the headquarters of Concacaf in Miami, Florida. US Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said: "The indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted both abroad and here in the United States."
She said the corruption "spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks".
New Zealand police said none of the officials were involved in the Under-20 World Cup.
