FIFA Ethics Committee Investigation

[GP]

[WMUG]

The investigation wasn't independent?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Suspended Fifa vice-president Jack Warner has made public an e-mail that claims Mohamed Bin Hammam "bought" the 2022 World Cup finals for Qatar. The e-mail, seemingly from Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke, also questions why Asian confederation chief Bin Hammam was running for Fifa president.

Valcke wrote: "[Hammam] thought you can buy Fifa as they bought the World Cup".
Fifa suspended Warner and Bin Hammam over separate allegations of bribery, pending further investigation.

Bin Hammam was suspended by the organisation's ethics committee a matter of hours after withdrawing from the Fifa presidential race on Sunday morning.
His decision leaves 75-year-old incumbent Sepp Blatter, who is seeking a fourth term in charge of the organisation he has run unopposed since 1998, as the only man running for the office. Blatter is due to hold a news conference on Monday at 1700 BST.

Fifa has said its election will go ahead, as scheduled, on Wednesday.
Warner, who is president of the North, Central American and Caribbean confederation (Concacaf), has reacted angrily to the allegations of bribery and the Fifa ethics committee's decision to suspend him.

The Trinidad and Tobago government minister raged: "I look on the suspension as the worst form of justice by any sporting organisation.

"They came premeditated, they weren't prepared to listen, they were hand-picked to do a task and they did just that.
"The guys were hand-picked by Blatter. A kangaroo court would be a decent thing to say."

Warner, who also turned on Valcke, stated: "I wrote to Valcke telling him, among other things, that the outcome of the [Fifa presidential] elections may cause some fracture in the Arab world which we can ill afford now and that I will like to ask Bin Hammam to withdraw from the race.
"To which Jerome replied to me and I quote: 'For MBH [Mohamad Bin Hammam], I never understood why he was running. If really he thought he had a chance or just being an extreme way to express how much he does not like anymore JSB [Joseph Sepp Blatter].
"Or he thought you can buy Fifa as they [Qatar] bought the WC'."

Warner showed the e-mail to television crews and added: "You don't have to believe me, you don't have to like me, nobody has to eat with me, drink with me or sleep with me but Jesus Christ, take the truth when you see it."

Warner has also accused Blatter of making a gift of computers and an unauthorised $1m (£607,000) to Concacaf officials.
"I indicated that at the Miami Concacaf Congress on 3 May Mr Blatter made a gift of $1m to Concacaf to spend as it deems fit," Warner said in a statement.
"This annoyed [Uefa] president Michel Platini who was present and he approached secretary general Jerome Valcke complaining that Mr Blatter had no permission from the finance committee to make this gift to which Jerome replied that he will find the money for Mr Blatter.
"I also indicated Fifa, through Mr Blatter, organised gifts of laptops and projectors to all members of the Caribbean and no objections have been made today of this to date."

This is the latest in a string of allegations between the men at the top of Fifa.
Warner and Hammam are accused of offering financial incentives to members of the Caribbean Football Union.

In a file of evidence it was claimed bundles of cash of up to $40,000 (£24,200) were handed over to members of the CFU at the meeting in Trinidad on 10 and 11 May.
The payments were allegedly made to secure votes for Bin Hammam in his campaign to challenge Blatter for the presidency.


Bin Hammam effectively claimed Blatter was aware of some of the wrongdoing but the Fifa president did not report it, in itself a breach of Fifa's ethics code, but he was found to have no case to answer.


Warner has also maintained his innocence and denied any wrongdoing.
According to the Reuters news agency, China's Zhang Jilong will take charge of the Asian Football Confederation in the absence of Hammam.


Meanwhile, independent Australian senator Nick Xenophon has demanded that Fifa refunds the Aus$45.6m (£29.6m) they spent on their unsuccessful bid to host the 2022 World Cup.


Xenophon said: "It appears corrupt and highly questionable behaviour goes to the core of Fifa.


"Australia spent almost $46m on a bid we were never in the running for.
"Now we hear that bribes may have been made to fix the result for who will head up Fifa."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/13592684.stm

Who'd have thought?

[Tony Tuesdays]

Blatter: Teflon Don

[The Wengerbabies]

Former Fifa presidential candidate Mohamed Bin Hammam has confirmed he will be appealing against his suspension.
Bin Hammam was suspended by Fifa on Sunday following allegations that the Asian confederation president and Jack Warner had offered bribes to delegates at a Caribbean Football Union meeting in Trinidad.
If the findings are proven to be true, both Bin Hammam and Warner could face a permanent expulsion from the organisation.
Bin Hammam, however, questioned the evidence, claiming that the ethics committee organised was not fully independent and that there was not enough proof to give a suspension.
He has denied making any payments and has issued a statement on his website in which he said he "will not accept yesterday's decision".
Not acceptable

The statement read: "Mohamed Bin Hammam will not accept yesterday's decision by the Fifa ethics committee.
"As he is only allowed to appeal against the motivated decision by the Fifa ethics committee, he urgently requested this by Tuesday to be able to file his appeal in due time and to revoke the provisional ban before Wednesday's congress is starting.
"The way these proceedings have been conducted is absolutely not compliant with any principles of justice. I am punished before I am found guilty."
Mohamed Bin Hammam Quotes of the week
"There are many open questions: What was the discussion in the ethics committee and how did the ethics committee come to its conclusion? There are many other questions which need to be answered and transparency is urgently needed.
"The way these proceedings have been conducted is absolutely not compliant with any principles of justice. I am punished before I am found guilty.
"I get the impression that the outcome of these proceedings had been defined from the very beginning as it has been made evident at the press conference on Sunday evening at which Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke showed his bias very clearly.
"This is not acceptable as the Fifa ethics committee is supposed to be a fully independent body. Therefore, I also expect the further investigation to be influenced and manipulated."
Bin Hammam withdrew from the Fifa presidential election on Sunday, leaving current incumbent Sepp Blatter as the only candidate and the election will take place as scheduled on Wednesday.


http://www.skysports.com/story/0,195...959814,00.html

What a farce.

[Niall_Quinn]

His decision leaves 75-year-old incumbent Sepp Blatter, who is seeking a fourth term in charge of the organisation he has run unopposed since 1998, as the only man running for the office.

This is so blatant you have to wonder why the national bodies continue to recognise the authority of FIFA. Well maybe you don't have to wonder too much. Isn't it more likely that football is corrupt from top to bottom, rather than being clean at any level? I believe this should be a police matter, that's entirely appropriate given what's going on here and the amounts involved. Plus the whole Qatar bid should now be binned. Silly fuckers, even gangsters in the movies are more convincing than this lot.

[Cripps_orig]

Press conference on SSN atm

Its hilarious

Blatter is being ripped to pieces. He doesnt know what to do

[Boss]

This is a picture of the money that a Caribbean football official says he was offered following a presentation by FIFA presidential candidate Mohamed bin Hammam.

The money, as the picture clearly shows, was delivered in a brown envelope with the name of the Bahamas FA on it. Inside the envelope was 40,000 US dollars in crisp, new 100-dollar bills - four packs each of 10,000 dollars.

For many officials from the Caribbean's smaller islands, this would be the equivalent of several years' salary.

The date was May 10, the place the Hyatt Regency hotel in Trinidad where the members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) had been invited to a special meeting to listen to FIFA presidential candidate Mohamed Bin Hammam present his manifesto.

Afterwards, the 25 associations - whose flights and hotel costs for two officials each were being covered by Bin Hammam - were asked to attend a conference room to pick up "a gift", according to an affidavit sent to FIFA's ethics committee.

Fred Lunn, the vice-president of the Bahamas FA, was one of the first to go up to the room where he was handed a large brown envelope. When he opened it "stacks of US 100 fell out and on to the table. I was stunned to see this cash", he said in an affidavit which was presented to FIFA's ethics committee on Sunday.

Lunn said he was not authorised to accept such a gift but was urged to do so by a CFU official. He decided to hold on to the money and contact his association's president Anton Sealey, which he did by text message.

Copies of these text messages were also sent to the ethics committee which suspended Bin Hammam and FIFA vice-president Jack Warner on Sunday pending a full inquiry. CFU officials Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester have also been suspended.

Sealey then called Lunn and told him "under no circumstances would the Bahamas FA accept such a cash gift" and that he should return the 40,000 dollars.

Lunn took a picture of the money before he replaced it in the envelope, and when he returned to the conference room to hand it back he had to wait while other officials queued to go in.

He texted Sealey saying "a lot of the boys taking the cash, this is sad given the breaking news on the TV CNN... I'm truly surprise its happening at this conference" [sic].

In London that day, allegations that Qatar's bid team for the 2022 World Cup had paid bribes for votes had been made in Parliament.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...merges?cc=4716

lol

Hope it causes the event to be moved from Qatar, but this is unlikely.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Just heard on FiveLive, the deadline for formal submissions (and nominations) running for candidacy was...April 1st.

[GP]

Blatter runs like a Welshman.