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FBI Investigating Sepp Blatter Over $100m Bribery Scandal
Posted On Dec 07 2015
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The 79-year-old president was provisionally suspended for 90 days in October over a $2 million payment to UEFA president Michel Platini in 2011.
Former Fifa president João Havelange may have implicated Sepp Blatter in the ISL $100m case from 2010.
Teixeira went on to vote in the now infamous process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, with Blatter denying any knowledge of the bribes.
Fallen Trinidad and Tobago honcho Jack Warner has accused the USA of trying to “take over” Federation Internationale de Football Association with its anticorruption investigations, alleging that the country is seeking to strip Qatar and Russia of their upcoming World Cups.
The BBC reports that USA investigators have evidence that FIFA’s suspended president, Sepp Blatter, knew about $100 million in bribes that were paid to former members of world soccer’s governing body before he became president. In 2013, a Federation Internationale de Football Association ethics committee inquiry cleared Blatter of any wrongdoing in the episode, accepting he was unaware of any of the bribes Havelange and Teixeira received.
According to the Panorama investigation, the FBI is probing payments made from ISL to Federation Internationale de Football Association and officers have allegedly seen a letter from Havelange that revealed Blatter had “full knowledge of all activities” and was “always apprised” of them. Blatter’s lawyers failed to respond to a request for comment when the BBC contacted them.
Damian Collins MP tells Panorama Blatter’s behaviour was extraordinary.
The ex-Foreign Office minister said: “I was told by two sources that have always been very reliable with good information, good intelligence that the sum that Qatar had spent on their bid was one hundred and seventeen million pounds”.
The FIFA corruption scandal escalated last week when US Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced a further 16 FIFA officials and associates have been indicted as part of the FBI’s ongoing investigation.
