Wholesale mega corruption in football (part 2)

By Tony Attwood

Recently we asked: Why are so many sport administrators corrupt or incompetent or both?

That question can’t be answered in full, although we will be trying to give some answers in the coming days, but before that, we have other matters to consider such as the awarding of the 2022 World Cup, Gianni Infantino’s flight to Qatar, the Blatter-Platini affair…

Proceedings are happening here, there and everywhere, including of course the trial of Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, chairman of beIN and PSG, and the former director Jerome Valcke, which opens on Monday.

That case started with the arrest on 27 May 2015 of seven leaders of world football in Zurich, relating to the tactics used by South American officials in offering the TV rights for various competitions.

This case was investigated in the United States, and resulted in the sentencing of Paraguayan Juan Angel Napout to nine years in prison and Brazilian Jose Maria Marin to four years in prison. Jeffrey Webb, from the Cayman Islands, pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $6.7 million.  Word has it he just wrote a cheque.

For the TV rights of the World Cup, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi of Qatar and Jerome Valcke from France, (former secretary-general of Fifa), were accused of having concluded a pact without Fifa’s knowledge, for the rights to the World Cups planned for 2026 and 2030.

Nasser Al-Khelaïfi was acquitted in October 2020, while Valcke received a light sentence in another unrelated case.  The prosecution has appealed and the new trial is scheduled to take place from March 7 to 10 in Switzerland.

Now it may be that the UK media won’t cover this at all.  I can’t say for sure, but I just get this little feeling that the FA will lean on the journalists to say nowt.  Of course, there won’t be any inducements not to cover this, but maybe the media will be reminded that it has failed completely to cover other issues relating to Fifa and the events of late in Switzerland, so suddenly jumping in would look a bit out of context.  And covering these stories might harm England’s chances in the finals.   Which of course is not to say that the refereeing will be corrupt, but… well, …

The key issue is that Fifa paid Michel Platini 1.8 million euros (£1.5m) on the OK of Sepp Blatter.  There was no written agreement or contract just the payment (which is exactly the sort of job I want, so if you know of one, tell them I’m on the lookout.)

On 2 November last year a trial against Platini (aged 66) and Blatter (still with us aged 85), for fraud, unfair management, breach of trust and forgery were initiated.   Which is a pretty nifty set of accusations.  The defence is that the money was owing from work as a consultant between 1999-2002.

(Which reminds me, I was asked for my opinion about the England team last year  Maybe I ought to put a bill in).

Michel Platini called the case a “conspiracy” to stop him from becoming President of Fifa.  He’s now suing those who are suing him for “slanderous denunciation” and “criminal association”.

Infantino’s case is even more of a laugh since when he was elected in 2016 it was on the ticket of “restoring the image of Fifa”.  He is charged with “incitement to abuse of authority”, “violation of official secrecy” and “obstruction of criminal proceedings”.

This is where we get to the bit that we’ve been covering across the years: Infantino’s secret meetings in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Lauber, then head of the Swiss Public Prosecutor’s Office.  Oh yes and that old story we researched about the private flight back from central America by Mr. Infantino in 2017 and paid by Fifa.  That’s back on the agenda as well.   (Actually, I am glad about that as we really did quite a bit of digging on that one, where once again the British media wouldn’t touch the issue with the proverbial barge pole).

But even all this is as nothing compared to the BIG ONE: the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. The Swiss justice department has been investigating since May 2015 for “money laundering and unfair management”.

You may have read about it on Untold.  You won’t have read much about it in the British media.

At the same time, the French justice department is looking into a lunch held on 23 November 2010 including Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France, two senior Qatari officials and Michel Platini, head of Uefa.  As part of the merry-go-round, Sepp Blatter was a “witness”.

The 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa are also under investigation although the investigation into the awarding of the 2006 World Cup to Germany has stopped because of the statute of limitations.

Funny isn’t it, that the English media won’t cover any of it.

5 Replies to “Wholesale mega corruption in football (part 2)”

  1. I’m sure your little transfer ins and outs would have slated aubas exit as fake news at the time now its the best thing that happened this season. Hmmmm any apology from yourselves as you demand from the media?

    Reply

  2. seismic

    Stan Collymores been accused of being a wife beater, a dogger, and now the final insult, a journalist !

  3. Dan

    As you insist on a ‘reply’, and just in case you missed it in the earlier article, this is just for you Dan.

    “I’m sure your little transfer ins and outs would have slated Aubas exit as fake news at the time”

    Are you ? I mean are you really really sure ??

    This from Tony on Untold Arsenal on the 4th of January

    ARE ARSENAL ABOUT TO BUY ANOTHER SHED LOAD OF PLAYERS ? OR JUST SELL AUBA ?

    “So I am not saying that Arsenal are better by dint of a better performance against the rest of the “big six” – clearly not, but rather that even though Tottenham’s record is one draw better than ours, they have had the benefit of playing 80% of these games at the Unsponsored Stadium, plus the majority of their league games at home.

    Put all this together and I think the management will feel we are doing fine. As a result, the most likely transfer this window, will be the sale of Auba.”

    AS A RESULT, THE MOST LIKELY TRANSFER THIS WINDOW, WILL BE THE SALE OF AUBA

    https://untold-arsenal.com/archives/92227

    Sometimes Dan you really should know what you are talking about before you make accusations.

    The point is now Dan, are YOU going to apologise ?

  4. @Dan,

    Just wondering if you are capable of reading and/or of understanding the concept of context.

    This piece does NOT talk about transfers or Aubameyang.

    So I assume you are some fan from another club or from the AAA trying to sound cynical and funny because you think you have found a reason to prove Untold is not being thruthfull to it’s basic credo ?

    Just made an idiot out of yourself. Good for you.

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