Blatter in FBI spotlight over $100 mn bribery case

Embattled world football chief Sepp Blatter’s grip on power faces a new threat after it was alleged that the FBI is investigating the Fifa president’s possible involvement in a $100m bribery scandal.

It just keeps getting worse for Federation Internationale de Football Association and president Sepp Blatter.

A letter said by Panorama to have be written by Havelange – and to have been obtained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation – reads: “I emphasise that Mr Joseph Blatter had full knowledge of all the activities described and was always apprised of them”.

Three years later, Blatter told a Fifa Ethics Committee inquiry that he was unaware of the bribery and he was cleared of any wrong-doing.

In return, ISL was granted lucrative television and marketing rights throughout the 1990s.

The letter, apparently written by Havelange, talks about the payments he received from ISL. On Sunday, BBC reported that the FBI is investigating Blatter’s role in a $100 million bribes scandal.

The note adds: “Among other things, the prosecutor is investigating Havelange’s statements implicating Blatter and appearing to exculpate Havelange’s son-in-law, [Ricardo] Teixeira, in the ISL matter”.

Blatter, under fire for the gazillionth time.

Blatter declined to comment on their report.

It was the same Panorama team, led by the veteran Federation Internationale de Football Association investigator Andrew Jennings, that in 2010 revealed the existence of the list of bribes paid by ISL.

Meanwhile, suspended UEFA president Michel Platini’s lawyers have claimed that a memo published in French newspapers over the weekend could help prove that he did nothing wrong with regards to a “disloyal payment” made to him in 2011 for work completed several years earlier.

Blatter denied any knowledge of the bribes and took no action.

Late last week, 16 officials were charged over corruption in what the U.S. justice department called an “outrageous” betrayal of trust by those who govern the world’s most beloved sport.

The programme, to be broadcast on Monday night at 8.30pm, is also told by the former FA chairman Lord Triesman that the successful Qatar 2022 bid cost £117m. And Swiss authorities are carrying out a separate probe into the murky 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids.