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FIFA Corruption Scandal


MrJibbles

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May 29 - The gravest corruption scandal in the history of FIFA exploded into controversy tonight when Mohamed Bin Hammam and Jack Warner, the two figures at the centre of the affair, were provisionally suspended pending a full inquiry but Sepp Blatter was given the all-clear to stand unopposed for a fourth term as the organisation's President.

At a one-hour news conference that at times erupted into near-chaos amid a barrage of random questioning, FIFA's Ethics Committee ruled that Blatter had no case to answer and gave the 75-year-old Swiss – known as the "Great Survivor" – carte blanche to go it alone at the Presidential ballot on Wednesday (June 1).

The verdicts against Bin Hammam and Warner, long-standing members of FIFA's all-powerful Executive Committee, were hardly unexpected given the amount of evidence against them, provided not by newspapers or British MPs but by one of FIFA's own inner sanctum, the burly American Chuck Blazer.

So sure of his facts was Blazer that two of his fellow Executive committee members had broken the rules by offering or actually paying $40,000 (£24,000) bribes to Caribbean members at an unscheduled meeting on May 10-11 to discuss Bin Hammam's campaign to replace Blatter as President that he hired a law firm to draw up the evidence and then presented it to FIFA's Ethics Committee.

It seemed almost inevitable, despite their protests to the contrary, that Bin Hammam and Warner, respectively head of Asian football and the Confederation covering North and Central America and the Caribbean, would be thrown out, albeit temporarily.

"Some individuals alleged that money was paid as an inducement to support Mr Bin Hammam's candidacy, facilitated by Jack Warner," said Petrus Damaseb, the Namibian judge who is the deputy chairman of the Ethics Committee.

"The Committee concluded that the implicated officials must be temporarily excluded from active participation in football activities."

Demaseb estimated that the cases involving Bin Hammam and Warner would be concluded in July and although they will both now have the opportunity to draw up a more lengthy defence of their conduct, the omens do not look good.

The last time FIFA suspended two of their own, Reynald Temarii of Tahiti and Amos Adamu of Nigeria – caught up in the cash-for-votes scandal over World Cup bids – they ended up with even more severe sentences.

While Warner and Bin Hammam, who had withdrawn from the Presidential race a few hours before facing the Ethics Committee, will now be conspicuous by their absence at this week's FIFA Congress and election, Blatter will be elected unopposed – unless three-quarters of FIFA's 208 member nations demand the ballot be called off.

Damaseb and FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke (pictured) were bombarded with questions about why Blatter was allowed to walk away when he apparently knew there was a plan for payments to be made at the Trinidad meeting.

Bin Hammam, who asked for Blatter to be added to the probe, thought that was enough to bring down the FIFA President as well but the five-strong Ethics Committee disagreed.

"The Committee was satisfied that even assuming he had been told, there was no duty on his part to report because there was no breach at that stage," said Damaseb.

In other words, how could someone report a crime before it had actually been committed.

Damaseb insisted the timing of the hearing had nothing to do with the election and rejected accusations of political engineering.

"The timing of our involvement at the moment, the trigger for our involvement, are the statutes of FIFA," he said.

"No investigation against Blatter is warranted."

The decision to absolve Blatter, who has at times rightly been attacked for doing little or nothing to rid FIFA of corruption, was given even more credence by the fact that Warner said no conversation about the Trinidad payments ever took place – in other words totally contradicting Bin Hammam's version of events.

Valcke was pressed on numerous occasions about the fairness of the election going ahead with only one candidate and whether Blatter had once again wriggled through the net of culpability.

"Why should we postpone it?" Valcke asked.

"Are you saying there should be another candidate to be the President and not Sepp Blatter?

"If you are asking me, 'Am I happy to see mr Blatter re-elected?'

"The answer is, 'Yes I am'."

Blatter issued the briefest of statements, clearly wishing to keep his comments to the minimum.

"The FIFA Ethics Committee has reached its decisions," he said.

"I do not wish to comment in detail.

"But simply to say that I regret what has happened in the last few days and weeks.

"FIFA's image has suffered a great deal as a result, much to the disappointment of FIFA itself and all football fans."

There was also another twist when it was revealed that the Puerto Rico FA had emailed FIFA straight after the Ethics Committee had finished the hearing to confirm he was present at the Trinidad meeting and received a gift of $40,000 (£24,000) from Caribbean Football Union (CFU) officials.

It made for an unsavoury end to the hearing and Valcke admitted the reputation of FIFA had taken arguably its biggest hit.

"It's sad," he said.

"Definitely there is a need for change.

"I'm not a FIFA President so he is the one who must decided what he wants to do and FIFA must make the necessary changes so that the institution has

systems in place to avoid that something like this happens again.

"This is the pattern of the work which we have to do very juickly in the next months: to change what has to be changed and put in place a number of systems to make sure that the Presidential election also comes under a number of rules."

http://www.insideworldfootball.com/news/1-latest-news/9264-bin-hammam-and-warner-susbin-hammam-and-warner-suspended-by-fifa-over-corruption-allegations-but-blatter-free-to-contest-electionpended-by-fifa-over-corruption-allegations

Jack Warner is a very dodgy individual however he really went the f*ck in with the following.

May 30 - FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke's position was unexpectedly plunged into severe danger·today·when he admitted that a damaging email he sent suggesting the 2022 World Cup was bought was genuine.

Valcke's email was sent to banned FIFA vice-president Jack Warner who made it public late last night in reaction to being temporarily suspended by FIFA's Ethics Committee, along with one-time Presidential candidate Mohamed Bin Hammam, for allegedly offering or paying bribes to Caribbean associations.

Warner claimed that in the email exchange, which apparently took place on May 18, Valcke had not only questioned why Bin Hammam had decided to run for president against Sepp Blatter but also claimed that the Qatari might have bought the World Cup for his country.

According to Warner's explosive statement, Valcke wrote: "For MBH, 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.

"Or he thought you can buy FIFA as they bought the WC"

As he arrived at a Zurich hotel for a scheduled meeting of CONCACAF, to which all Caribbean federations belong, Valcke was briefly questioned by reporters over Warner's sensational allegations.

Warner, he insisted, had picked out "selective parts" of the email exchange but then admitted his words were accurate.

"It was a private email and we will discuss it," Valcke told reporters.

"He [Warner] sent me an email asking if I wanted that [bin Hammam to withdrew) and he said I should ask Bin Hammam to pull out."

Who said what to whom, and when, has become a recurring theme among all those involved in the ongoing bribery scandal.

But as he left the hotel with Blatter to attend what promised to be a tasty meeting meeting of the FIFA Executive Committee - without Bin Hammam and Warner - Valcke was asked by insideworldfootball whether he would now resign.

As he got into an official FIFA car, Valcke threw up his arms as if to say "who knows?" but is certain to face a barrage of questioning at an emergency press conference called by Blatter for later in the day.

Valcke also stressed he had no part to play in the suspension of Bin Hammam by FIFA's Ethics Committee over the unprecendented bribes-for-votes scandal that has sent shock waves across the globe.

Bin Hammam, like Warner, has hit back with a vengeance over being temporarily excluded from all football-related activities and claims that Valcke was instrumental in bringing about his suspension.

Bin Hammam claims Valcke unduly influenced members of the Ethics committee who made the ruling on Monday.

But Valcke retorted: "The first time I met the chairman of the Ethics Committee was yesterday at 5pm before we went to the press conference.

"I had no contact with anyone."

It's an organisation run by some very corrupt individuals and now something must be done by an independent enquiry.

A press conference is called for 5pm tonight.

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Sepp Blatter:

1975-1981: Technical Director

1981-1998: General Secretary

1998-2011: President

And people wonder why this sh*t has gon' on for so long?!?!?!

FIFA is rotten to the core, and this is the way it has always been, lol at Sepp absolutely demolishing the opposition because he knew he was gonna lose and this sh*t was gonna come out in the open.

Dumb thing he could have ever done though was suspend Warner and Bin Hammamm, cos they WILL be bitter and I guarantee some more stuffs gonna come out.

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FIFA is dead.

Not right now, but they old men that have taken way too many blows, and the egos that thought they was gonna ride the initial inquest from England and claim "they just bitter" are now starting to realise shits gonna change.

Warner is the greasiest tho, he is central to everything, bait my man had the email convo just to bait up my man. This guy I'm convinced has a exit strategy and a dossier on everyone and their wrong doings.

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Warner is the greasiest tho, he is central to everything, bait my man had the email convo just to bait up my man. This guy I'm convinced has a exit strategy and a dossier on everyone and their wrong doings.

The thing is Blatter has known him for 30+ years and he thought he could make Warner the fall guy and he was going to go quietly.

lol that will probably prove to be his biggest mistake, I have seen enough of Warner to know he's dragging everybody down with him.

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May 30 - The clearest proof yet that bribes were definitely offered to Caribbean members of FIFA emerged today when a picture of bundles of cash allegedly delivered in a brown envelope was released to newspapers around the world.

The Press Association news agency obtained a picture of the payment which a Caribbean·football official claims he was offered following a presentation by Mohamed Bin Hammam, who recently pulled out of the FIFA presidential race, in Trinidad on May 10-11.

The picture has the name Bahamas on it, the country which first reported the alleged bribe to CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer.·

Inside the envelope was $40,000 (£24,000) in crisp, new $100 (£61) bills - four·packs each of $10,000 (£6,000).

insideworldfootball has already been informed that that the 25 Associations present - whose flights and hotel accommodation were covered by Bin Hammam - were asked to pick up their "gifts" one by one, allegedly by two Caribbean Football Union (CFU) officials on the instruction of CONCACAF President Jack Warner.

Both Bin Hammam and Warner were suspended yesterday over the bribery scandal.

According to Fred Lunn, the vice-president of the Bahamas Football Association, when he opened his envelope,·''stacks of US 100 fell out and on to the table.

"I was stunned to see this·cash,'' he apparently said in an affidavit presented to FIFA's Ethics Committee.

Lunn 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 yesterday suspended not only Bin Hammam and FIFA vice-president Warner pending a full inquiry but also 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.

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.

The following morning, May 11, Lunn attended a meeting where delegates were·addressed by Warner, who is also the head of the CFU.

''Mr Warner stated that he had instructed Mr Bin Hammam to bring the cash·equivalent of any gift he had intended to bring for the people attending this·meeting,'' said Lunn in his affidavit.

''Mr Warner then stated that the money could be used for any purpose...for·grassroots programs or any purpose the individuals saw fit.''

Blazer contacted Warner in person to question the payments.

''Mr Warner stated that since Mr Bin Hammam was going to be giving the money to·the delegates, it was Mr Warner's idea to claim that the money was from the CFU·so that it was clear to the delegates that Mr Warner was responsible for getting·the money to them," said Blazer in his own affidavit.

Blazer's affidavit adds: ''Mr Warner told me that that morning he had told to·the CFU delegates that Bin Hammam was the actual source of the money and that he [Mr Warner] explained to the delegates that everything was ok because he had·advised Mr Bin Hammam to bring the 'gifts' in cash and it was his [Mr Warner's]·idea to claim that the money was from the CFU.

"I told Mr Warner that I was upset that he had caused these cash payments ton·be made.

"I noted that in 21 years of working together in CONCACAF we had never paid anyone for a vote."

http://www.insideworldfootball.com/news/1-latest-news/9273-qbundles-of-cashq-given-to-caribbean-associations-by-bin-hammam-it-is-claimed

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