Sepp Blatter, the longtime, seemingly invincible boss of FIFA, has alerted Swiss authorities to potentially criminal behavior in global soccer, even though Switzerland’s top cops may already be on the case.
Blatter, president of the Zurich-based governing body for worldwide soccer, on Tuesday informed the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland, in Bern, of “possible misconduct” in soccer governance more than two months after former U.S. prosecutor Michael Garcia submitted a still-unpublished corruption report.
“The subject of the criminal complaint is the possible misconduct of individual persons in connection with the awarding of the hosting rights of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups investigated by Michael Garcia,” a statement on FIFA’s website reads. “In particular there seem to be grounds for suspicion that, in isolated cases, international transfers of assets with connections to Switzerland took place, which merit examination by the criminal prosecution authorities.”
According to FIFA, Hans-Joachim Eckert of Germany, the FIFA ethics chairman, has delivered to the Swiss authorities the reports compiled by Garcia and his deputy, Cornel Borbély, a Swiss national who handled several parts of the investigation from which Garcia recused himself.
“I lodged the criminal complaint upon the recommendation of Judge Eckert,” Blatter confirmed Tuesday, according to a Twitter report. “I cannot, however, comment on any possible criminal offenses.”
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Blatter, however, might be playing catch-up with law enforcement, which has already been scrutinizing FIFA’s executive committee, or Ex-co, which is led by Blatter. As the Daily News reported earlier this month, an American investigation involving the FBI and the IRS out of the Eastern District of New York has been working in conjunction with foreign authorities, including the Swiss government, in examining possible crimes at the very top levels of international soccer, including the FIFA Ex-co.
FIFA says Blatter made the decision to refer the matter to criminal authorities on the recommendation of Eckert, who was widely criticized Thursday for his 42-page summary of Garcia’s report. Garcia characterized Eckert’s summary as containing “numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions,” and said he hoped the report would be made public, to the extent that was “appropriate.”
Blatter’s recommendation was met with skepticism and derision in many corners of the soccer world.
“If there is a criminal nexus in Switzerland, (FIFA) might just be saying, ‘let’s pawn it off on the Swiss authorities,’?” one source who has followed the bidding process told the Daily News. “All they’re doing is trying to cover up.”
As the Daily News reported Friday, Blatter and FIFA have billions to lose if the authorities discover criminal behavior in the organization, which enjoys tax-exempt status in Switzerland but collected more than $4 billion in revenue on World Cup business from 2011-14.
It is also possible, according to sources, that the Swiss legislature will consider taking action regarding FIFA’s tax-exempt status, a threat FIFA has faced before. The loss of that status would put hundreds of millions in Switzerland’s public coffers while likely opening FIFA’s finances to greater public scrutiny.
Swiss criminal prosecutors, like their counterparts in other nations, have the power to coerce groups and individuals to cooperate. The power to compel testimony or subpoena records gives law enforcement tools that a private investigator cannot match. Garcia was merely relying upon witnesses who would voluntarily be interviewed or share evidence.
Pressure can theoretically also be brought to bear upon FIFA through the House of Commons in Great Britain, where a committee has in the past investigated reports of soccer corruption, giving some cover to witnesses. Damian Collins, a Conservative MP who was formerly a member of that committee, has called for more scrutiny of FIFA.
Noting that Eckert had shared the report with Swiss authorities, Collins wondered aloud on Twitter Tuesday whether the Swiss would share the documents with the FBI and the SFO (the Serious Fraud Office is roughly the equivalent of the FBI in Britain).
Meanwhile the Eastern District agents were heading their own probe, since at least November of 2011, when larger-than-life American soccer official Chuck Blazer — a former member of the Ex-co and former general secretary of the North American and Caribbean soccer federation known as CONCACAF — was approached by agents from the FBI and IRS on the sidewalk in Midtown Manhattan.
As the Daily News reported earlier this month, Blazer agreed to cooperate with the agents when confronted for not having paid taxes for years on the soccer money that fueled his luxurious lifestyle. Blazer later secretly recorded meetings with international soccer officials during the 2012 Summer Games in London and conversations with the officials in New York and elsewhere.
Among those Blazer recorded and attempted to record were movers and shakers of the soccer world, including some who were involved in World Cup bids and the shadowy influence peddling that spurs hopeful bid committees to seek favor from voters.
The announcement was accompanied by comments from Eckert posted on FIFA’s website in a question-and-answer format, where he said it was his “duty” to bring things to Blatter’s attention and recommend the referral. “During my analysis of the report . . . I came across indications that pointed to suspected unlawful activity in connection with Switzerland,” Eckert said.
Eckert reiterated his opinion that Garcia’s report contains “insufficient incriminating evidence” to justify calling into question the entire award process. “Nevertheless,” Eckert said, “there are indications of potential illegal or irregular conduct in certain areas, which must now be followed up both internally by FIFA and by the relevant national criminal prosecution authorities.”
