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6 FIFA members accused of accepting bribes for 2018/2022 bids

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G

giga

Member
LONDON (AP)—Soccer’s governing body was hit with new corruption allegations Tuesday when six FIFA executive committee members were accused of receiving or demanding bribes during bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Issa Hayatou of Cameroon and Jacques Anouma of the Ivory Coast were allegedly paid $1.5 million to vote for Qatar, according to evidence submitted to a British parliamentary inquiry by The Sunday Times newspaper.

The Gulf nation beat the United States in the final round of voting in December for the 2022 tournament. Qatar’s soccer federation released a statement later Tuesday, denying the “serious and baseless” allegations that will “remain unproven because they are false.”

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the House of Commons also heard from the former head of England’s 2018 bid, who described the conduct of executive committee members Jack Warner, Nicolas Leoz, Ricardo Teixeira and Worawi Makudi in the 2018 contest as “improper and unethical.”

The parliamentary panel is looking into England’s failed bid for the World Cup as part of a wider inquiry into soccer governance.

In Zurich, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said he will ask for evidence that supports the claims and forward any allegations to the FIFA ethics committee.

“I cannot say they are all angels or they are all devils,” he said of the executive members.

“We must have the evidence and then we will act immediately against all those (who) would be breach of the ethical code rules,” Blatter added.

Referring to his bid for re-election next month against Mohammed bin Hammam of Qatar, Blatter said: “I’m fighting to clear FIFA, I’m fighting to clean FIFA.”

The bidding contest was rocked even before the vote when The Sunday Times published in October details of an undercover investigation that led to two of FIFA’s 24 executive committee members being suspended.

Amos Adamu of Nigeria was found guilty by FIFA’s ethics court of soliciting bribes from undercover reporters, while Reynald Temarii of Tahiti was banned for breaching rules on confidentiality and loyalty.

The British newspaper sent further evidence—which it did not publish at the time for legal reasons—to the British committee on Monday to be made public using parliamentary privilege.

Two of the paper’s investigative journalists told the committee in a letter that a whistleblower who had worked for the Qatari bid told them in December that the country “had paid $1.5 million to two FIFA ExCo members—Hayatou and Jacques Anouma of the Ivory Coast—to secure their votes.”

Reporters Jonathan Calvert and Claire Newell added that “a similar deal had been struck with Amos Adamu, although he was prevented from voting because he was suspended following our original article.
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http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ap-wcup-votecorruption
 
C

ConfusingJazz

Member
I'm shocked- SHOCKED! - that is bribery going on in here!

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K

KingGondo

Banned
I love me some World Cup, but those fuckers deserve to have the Qatar cup fail if that's how it happened.

"If." lololololololololol
 
S

Steverulez

Member
As a Brit if we're genuinely exposing all this corruption and bribery in FIFA then its obviously a good thing.

But I don't want us to be sore losers/or been seen as that.

I personally think for many reasons we should been holding the World Cup (but being English I probably would) but if we continue to pursue this I fear that it will be a VERY long time before we get to see that.
 
D

Darklord

Banned
You mean they didn't actually want to have it in a tiny, boiling hot desert country like Qatar rather than a place like Australia? Wow, what a shock!
 
C

Cheech

Member
Meadows said:
They should do a re-vote imo. The England bid deserved more than 1 vote, fucking travesty.
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What pisses me off is the blocks were falling into place for the USA to finally, finally pick up soccer as a national sport. Excitement over the 2010 World Cup, MLS finally getting its shit together, and the prospective of having a World Cup in the USA would have kept interest in the sport fresh.

And then this bullshit happened.
 
A

Arnie

Member
Wait, you mean they picked Qatar for reasons other than footballing ones?

I'm shocked, I need to lie down with a wet flannel.
 
O

offshore

Member
In Zurich, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said he will ask for evidence that supports the claims and forward any allegations to the FIFA ethics committee.
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Wait what, FIFA have an ethics commitee?

Wow, what a job it's been doing
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F

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
I remember that some gaffers were kind of pissy when people suggested that Qatar bribed its way to the WC.

Quelle surprise.
 
LQX

LQX

Member
No doubt shit like this is also happens with the Olympics. NYC should have been hosting the next Olympics.
 
B

Big-E

Member
Water is wet. Can't believe FIFA tried to pass off that a glorified city state was able to have the strongest bid out of some of the most well developed and important countries in the world.
 
B

BriareosGAF

Member
It's almost like the world of professional sports is run by terrible human beings. But what are you going to do, people still pay for this stuff.

Although even my cruel heart softens at the idea of watching World Cup matches early in the morning at Phillippe's in downtown LA with all the random folks from all over town.
 
D

DECK'ARD

The Amiga Brotherhood
The BBC has more on the specific allegations:

- Fifa vice-president Warner asked for around £2.5m to build an education centre in Trinidad, with the cash to be channelled through him, and later wanted £500,000 to buy Haiti's World Cup TV rights for the earthquake-hit nation, again to be channelled through him;

- Paraguay's Fifa member Leoz asked for a knighthood;

- Brazil's Fifa member Teixeira asked him [Triesman] to "come and tell me what you have got for me", with the implication being that he wanted something in return for his vote;

- Thailand's Fifa member Makudi wanted to be given the TV rights to a friendly between England and the Thai national team.
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In a separate development, it was also claimed that two more Fifa executive committee members were paid nearly £1m to vote for Qatar's bid.

Conservative MP Damian Collins said evidence submitted by the Sunday Times newspaper - which has been published on the UK Parliament website - claimed Fifa vice-president Issa Hayatou, from Cameroon, and Jacques Anouma, from the Ivory Coast, were involved.

Collins also said the Sunday Times submission claimed Qatar specifically employed a fixer to arrange deals with African members for their votes.
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Lots more on the whole saga here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/9481461.stm

FIFA is corrupt from the top down, about time some light was shone on it all.
 
X

XMonkey

lacks enthusiasm.
Referring to his bid for re-election next month against Mohammed bin Hammam of Qatar, Blatter said: “I’m fighting to clear FIFA, I’m fighting to clean FIFA.”
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Fuck FIFA and fuck Blatter.
 
C

Cerebral Assassin

Member
DECK'ARD said:
FIFA is corrupt from the top town, about time some light was shone on it all.
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This has been known for at least 20 years, pity no-one cared then(also its not as if the FA hasn't contributed money to Warner in the past).
 
D

DECK'ARD

The Amiga Brotherhood
Cerebral Assassin said:
This has been known for at least 20 years, pity no-one cared then(also its not as if the FA hasn't contributed money to Warner in the past).
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Yeah, I think the absurdity of Qatar will finally force the issue though.
 
D

DaMan121

Member
Lagspike_exe said:
WHAT A SHOCK.

Seems like somebody didn't get their application accepted and is now (rightfully) angry.
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I know Australia won't bid for it again after the 2022 debacle.. 30+ million down the drain. Having said that, after watching the final video presentation they deserved to lose.
 
Z

Zhengi

Member
Isn't that standard practice in order to get the World Cup to your country? I assume that's what everyone does to both FIFA and the Olympic committees.
 
R

Regulus Tera

Romanes Eunt Domus
Fifa Member 1: I'll vote for Qatar, there's no way they will win it anyway!
Fifa Member 2: I'll vote for Qatar, those petrodollars are alluring.
Fifa Member 3: I'll vote for Qatar, as if they even had a chance!

-Qatar elected-

Fifa Members 1 through 22: Goddammit.

neoanarch said:
Not Jack Warner! He seems like such a standup guy.
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Seriously?
 
S

skybaby

Member
giga said:
Jack Warner, Nicolas Leoz, Ricardo Teixeira and Worawi Makudi in the 2018 contest as “improper and unethical.”
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Well, as a Brazilian, being corrupt is basically followin the law.
 
R

Regulus Tera

Romanes Eunt Domus
favouriteflavour said:
If Qatar is proven to have bribed members to win the cup, should be stripped of it. No question about it.
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This is FIFA, dude. They will justify that as political campaigning.

The only time a World Cup's host has changed was when Colombia backed down due to economic concerns. Qatar will keep it unless they withdraw.
 
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