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Rome (AFP) - Italian police said Tuesday that Argentinian businessman Alejandro Burzaco, who has been indicted by US authorities in the FIFA corruption scandal, has turned himself in.
Burzaco, 50, was being held in Bolzano, near Italy's northern border with Switzerland after turning up at a police station with his lawyers.
He was being held pending a hearing later in the day on whether he is formally arrested.
Burzaco's whereabouts have been a mystery since seven FIFA executives were arrested in Zurich on the eve of a FIFA Congress last week.
According to reports, Burzaco was in the hotel where the executives were cuffed and promptly disappeared in the knowledge he was likely to be on the indicted list.
Burzaco was wanted by the US authorities in connection with his role as president of sports marketing company Torneos y Competencias. He is suspected of irregularitites in the attribution of television rights for football tournaments in Latin America.
The Torneos y Competencias company held the television rights for the Argentinian league between 1992-2009 and in association with Aaron Davidson, the president of Traffic Sports USA arested in Zurich, and Full Play -- owned by two fugitive Argentinians Mariano and Hugo Jinkis -- hold the rights for the Copa America which kicks off in Chile next month.
Around 14 current or former FIFA officials and sports marketing executives are accused by US prosecutors of taking part in a sweeping kickbacks scheme going back 20 years involving a total of $150 million in bribes.
The revelations have thrown the world of football into turmoil and led to the resignation of long-serving FIFA president Sepp Blatter last week, just four days after his re-election for a fifth successive term.
Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke. Photo: Reuters
Fifa will postpone the start of bidding for the right to host the 2026 World Cup following the launch of a corruption investigation, a senior official in soccer's global governing body said yesterday.
"Due to the situation, I think it's nonsense to start any bidding process for the time being. It will be postponed," Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke said.
The decision on who hosts the 2026 finals had been due to be made in Kuala Lumpur in 2017. The US had been expected to bid for the rights.
The US FBI is investigating bribery and corruption at Fifa, including scrutiny of how World Cup hosting rights were awarded to Russia, which won the bidding for 2018, and Qatar, which is due to host the finals in 2022.
Valcke made the announcement in the Russian city of Samara, one of the host venues, where he was checking preparations for the 2018 finals.
Despite investigations into the bidding process involving Russia and Qatar, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said he saw no threat to Moscow's bid. He reiterated that it had been in line with the rules, as did Valcke.
As secretary general of Fifa since 2007, and as president Sepp Blatter's lieutenant, Valcke is seen as one of the most powerful men in world sport.
The Frenchman also issued a new denial of allegations of wrongdoing over US$10 million in bank transactions that are under investigation by US authorities.
The funds - allegedly paid on behalf of the South African government - were transferred in 2008 to another Fifa official, Jack Warner, who was then the president of Concacaf, which governs soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
Valcke said there were no grounds to blame him or Fifa over the way the funds were used. Fifa has also said he had no role in the payments.
"I really don't understand what is the problem and why I am such a target with this question," Valcke said.
"I am signing contracts every day ... everything has the signature of the secretary general," he said. "[But] it's not because I am signing everything that I am responsible for the way people are acting all around the world."
Valcke said he had been fiercely criticised in the media.
"I don't have to justify myself. Except maybe from my father who is 80 years old and doesn't understand what is going on around me. He is the only person I would still answer questions from about this," he said.
Walter De Gregorio had worked for the organisation since September 14, 2011 but will be replaced on an interim basis by his current deputy, Nicolas Maingot
Fifa's Director of Communications & Public Affairs has decided to relinquish his role with immediate effect.
Walter De Gregorio had worked for the game's governing body since September 14, 2011 and will continue in a consultancy basis until the end of the year.
However, his deputy, Nicolas Maingot, will now take the job on an interim basis.
“Walter has worked incredibly hard for the past four years and we are immensely grateful for all he has done," Fifa Secretary General Jerome Valcke told the organisation's official website.
"I am glad we will be able to continue to draw on his expertise until the end of the year."
The Swiss-Italian is considered one of the top aides of Fifa president Sepp Blatter, who announced last week that he will imminently step down in the wake of the corruption scandal that has rocked football's governing body.
Indeed, De Gregorio handled the press conferences that dealt with both Blatter's resignation as well as the confirmation that a number of Fifa officials had been arrested as part of an FBI-led investigation into allegations of bribery dating back to 1991.
European Parliament calls for immediate Blatter resignation
Jun 11, 2015 14:57:37
The Swiss has already confirmed that he will stand down as Fifa president as soon as possible but he has now been urged to quit right away
Fifa president Sepp Blatter should resign from his role immediately, according to the European Parliament.
The Swiss announced his intention to step down last week, in the wake of the corruption scandal that has engulfed world football's governing body.
The 79-year-old will remain in his post until a successor is chosen at an Extraordinary Congress that will be held between December this year and March 2016.
However, the European Parliament has called for him to leave with immediate effect.
"The European Parliament...demand, among other things, the immediate resignation of Fifa president Joseph Blatter," a statement released on Thursday read.
"Parliament welcomes Joseph Blatter's resignation as Fifa president and calls on the federation to select an interim leader to replace him.
"Fifa should put in place a transparent, balanced and democratic decision-making process, including for the election of the new president, adds the resolution, which was passed by a show of hands."
The statement also declared that the decisions to award Russia and Qatar the next two World Cups should be considered "invalid" if allegations of corruption regarding those processes are proven.
Several top-ranking Fifa officials were arrested last month as part of an FBI-led investigation into allegations of bribery and money-laundering dating back to 1991.
French PM told to pay up for jet to attend Champions League final
Date June 11, 2015 - 11:35AM
Henry Samuel
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and UEFA President Michel Platini (right) talk prior to the UEFA Champions League final. Photo: AFP
Paris: French Prime Minister Manuel Valls is facing calls to repay the estimated €20,000 ($29,260) it cost taxpayers to jet him to Berlin for the Champions League final, after it emerged he took his two sons along for the match.
The Catalonia-born prime minister, who became a French national in his 20s, is a huge fan of the Barcelona team, which won Europe's most prestigious football competition against Italy's Juventus 3-1 on Saturday.
Mr Valls insisted he had travelled to Berlin for a meeting with Michel Platini, the UEFA president. However, the weekly newspaper Le Canard Enchaine reported that no such meeting was planned and the only time the pair met was in the stadium when the prime minister introduced Mr Platini to his sons.
Barcelona players celebrate on the team bus in Barcelona, Spain, after winning the Champions League final on Saturday. Photo: AP
"So we learn that two of his children were on the trip to Berlin - the least Valls can do is pay it back," wrote Thierry Mariani, centre-Right opposition MP of the Republicans party in a tweet.
Mr Platini waded in on Wednesday, saying the prime minister had come to watch Barcelona play at his invitation.
"I told Mr Valls that if Barcelona reached the final, I would invite him - I kept my word," Mr Platini said at a news conference in Paris to mark the first Euro 2016 ticket sales.
The show: Barcelona's Gerard Pique, left, challenges Juventus' Carlos Tevez for the ball. Photo: AP
He insisted they had held a "tete-a-tete" meeting about Euro 2016 and the corruption scandal engulfing Fifa, football's world governing body.
Mr Platini, 59, is tipped as a possible candidate to succeed his former mentor Sepp Blatter, who announced last week he would step down as FIFA president.
On Tuesday, Mr Valls said that sport played "a very important role, thanks to the big international events that we are going to host in France." The role of a prime minister was to "to support these big events for France", he added by way of explanation.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls arrives at the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee presidential palace in Paris on Wednesday. Photo: AFP
But his clumsy excuse for taking the trip in a government Falcon jet during a key Socialist Party congress failed to dampen public outrage, with Le Parisien newspaper saying the row had "tainted" his clean-cut image.
A government code of conduct signed by each minister states that "only the expenses directly linked to the exercise of the mandate are covered by the state". It also says that government officials should "refrain from accepting invitations for private trips" and return to the state all gifts worth more than €150.
President Francois Hollande publicly defended his prime minister, saying he had "matters to discuss" with UEFA. However, the president is reportedly "furious" in private about the negative press over the trip at a time when the ruling Socialists are pushing through austerity reforms.
Some 77 per cent of French people said they were "shocked" by Mr Valls's use of a government jet to fly to the Champions League final, a poll for BFM TV found.
Over 100 suspicious bank transfers picked up in World Cup bid probes
Jun 17, 2015 12:06:52
Switzerland's attorney general says evidence of alleged financial irregularities have been found in data seized from Fifa's headquarters
The investigation into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups has already detected 104 instances of suspicious activity in Swiss bank accounts.
Swiss authorities last month seized documents and data from Fifa headquarters as part of their enquiry into allegations of bribery relating to the voting process that saw the next two tournaments given to Russia and Qatar, respectively.
Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber has now revealed the scope of the investigation, stressing that it could take years before the case is concluded.
“I am well aware of the enormous public interest in our investigation," he told reporters at a press conference in Bern.
"Equally enormous is the public interest in an independent criminal procedure.
“Our investigation is of great complexity and quite substantial.
"To give you an example: The Swiss attorney general’s office has seized around nine terrabytes of data.
"So far, our investigative team has obtained evidence concerning 104 banking relations.
"Be aware that every banking relation represents several bank accounts.
"We are faced with a complex investigation with many international implications. The prosecution is ongoing and will take time.
"It would not be professional to communicate at this moment a detailed timetable. The world of football needs to be patient. By its nature, this investigation will take more than the legendary 90 minutes."
The Swiss investigation into the 2018 and 2022 World Cups is running independently from the FBI-led inquiry into allegations of alleged bribery and money-laundering dating back to 1991 that has already led to the arrests of 14 Fifa officials.
Indeed, the game's governing body has already insisted that the Swiss investigation stems from its handing over of information accrued by Michael Garcia during the compilation of his report on the votes.
Lauber corroborated Fifa's claim that, at present, it is the "injured party" - but added that the situation could change depending upon the outcome of his team's investigation.
"For the time being Fifa is the injured party, that is true," he said. "They filed the report and this is the actual status as we conduct investigations against unknown persons.
"We didn’t start the investigation against Fifa. We started the investigations based on that report and based on a mutual legal assistance request from the US."
Exclusive - Banks did not do enough to police FIFA transactions, says global agency
Reuters
June 22, 2015, 4:17 am
Journalists are reflected in the FIFA logo as they wait for a news conference after a meeting of the FIFA executive committee in Zurich March 20, 2015. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
By Mark Hosenball
LONDON (Reuters) - A global group of government anti-money-laundering agencies said that financial institutions have not done enough to police suspicious financial activity by officials at football’s global governing body FIFA, and cautioned banks to step up scrutiny.
The warning from the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force came in the wake of last month’s indictment by the U.S. of nine current and former FIFA officials and five business executives on a series of corruption charges, including bribery, money laundering and wire fraud.
With the U.S. investigation continuing to widen, and a separate Swiss probe gearing up into whether there was corruption involved in FIFA’s awarding of the hosting rights to Russia and Qatar for the next football World Cups in 2018 and 2022, the warning will add to banks’ concern about handling certain football accounts for organizations and individuals.
Some European and U.S. banks had already stepped up scrutiny of FIFA-related accounts and at least one said it had stopped handling FIFA business for some time because of corruption allegations.
In a statement FATF said that “recent reports about alleged corruption and money laundering activities on a large scale by several high-ranking FIFA officials underscore how important it is that financial institutions identify and monitor high-risk customers.”
It said that financial institutions “do not appear to have given a sufficient amount of scrutiny to the financial activities of the officials concerned, as many of these allegedly corruption-related transfers passed through the international financial system undetected.”
FATF, whose members include the U.S., China, Brazil, Switzerland and many other European countries, said that an “ongoing public debate about the integrity of an entity should raise flags to financial institutions. As a result they should treat customers that are related to that entity as high risk customers.”
Reuters was told about the statement, which appears to be dated June 16, by a European official with knowledge of the FIFA case. It can be found through a Google search but does not appear to be accessible through the FATF website. FATF officials could not be immediately reached for comment on why that was the case.
NARCOTICS CONTROL REPORT
While the indictments were only issued on May 27, for many years there has been widespread media coverage of alleged corruption at FIFA and its regional affiliates, including several books published on the issue in the past nine years. There had also been news reports about the FBI probe.
One question being asked in U.S. banking circles is whether banks are acting quickly enough to flag activity once they have had subpoenas for information about an account from the authorities, said one source close to the industry.
Also in March, in a routine report on narcotics control that was little noticed at the time, the U.S. State Department expressed concern about how loopholes in Swiss law which affected FIFA had created potential for corruption and money laundering. The report is commonly used by U.S. banks to assess the risks associated with foreign customers and correspondent banks.
“Sports associations like the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) or the International Olympic Committee are not businesses but associations. They do not pay taxes and, as associations, are exempt from the Swiss anti-corruption legal framework,” the State Department said in the report. “The exception provided to these entities makes them more vulnerable to money laundering activity. The government should consider efforts to change applicable laws with respect to these organizations, many of which are suspected of corruption,” it said in reference to the Swiss government.
Despite all the warning signs, the indictment outlines dozens of questionable transactions that banks in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere allowed to go through, many of them in the past few years. In the indictment, U.S. prosecutors say that the defendants and their co-conspirators relied heavily on the U.S. banking system to promote and conceal their schemes.
The acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Kelly T. Currie, told a news conference when the indictments were announced on May 27 that bank actions would be reviewed to see if they knowingly facilitated bribes. The banks concerned have not been accused of wrongdoing.
EARLIER WARNINGS
FATF has expressed concern in the past about football being a vehicle for money laundering. In 2012, the group issued a warning that as the sport grew, “the investment of money into the sector has increased exponentially, and some of this has criminal connections.”
“Despite the rapid growth and high-visibility of the football sector, however, football’s regulatory structure has not yet caught up with these changes,” FATF warned then.
Earlier, in July 2009, FATF issued a 40-page paper entitled “Money Laundering through the Football Sector”. The document said that football faced numerous vulnerabilities to money laundering, including a lack of professional management at various levels.
FATF said that it would be discussing the issue at a meeting the group is holding, starting Sunday, in Brisbane, Australia, including “whether any further standards or guidance are necessary or whether the current standards are adequate if properly applied.”
The involvement of anti-money-laundering monitors in current investigations of FIFA corruption was highlighted last week by Michael Lauber, attorney general of Switzerland.
Lauber, who announced his FIFA investigation on the same day that U.S. authorities revealed the indictments, told a news conference in Berne last week that his investigators were examining sets of suspicious transactions related to FIFA.
He said that these transactions included 104 banking relationships, some of which involved multiple accounts, as well as 53 suspicious transactions which had been flagged by Swiss financial institutions to Switzerland’s anti-money laundering agency, known as the financial intelligence unit.
(Additional reporting by Brett Wolf in St. Louis and Karen Freifeld in New York; Editing by Martin Howell)
Six of the seven, including Fifa vice-president and former Concacaf president Jeffrey Webb, were arrested during a dawn raid on a Zurich hotel days before Fifa's Congress
Wanted men: United States has formally requested extradition Photo: GETTY IMAGES
By Ben Rumsby
1:20PM BST 02 Jul 2015
The Fifa crisis has intensified after the United States asked Switzerland to surrender seven senior football officials being held on suspicion of a £100 million fraud.
The Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) confirmed it had received a formal extradition request from the US embassy in Bern for the men arrested during a dawn raid on a luxury Zurich hotel just over five weeks ago.
The seven, who include two Fifa vice-presidents, are being held in separate detention facilities around the city.
They are permitted only one visit a week, and must remain behind a glass partition during the visits, according to a source close to one of the detainees.
The US justice department’s indictments against the men state they could face up to 20 years in jail if found guilty.
But it could be months before they face trial, with the FOJ confirming they could take legal challenges to extradition all the way to Switzerland’s supreme court.
It said: “On 1st July 2015, the US embassy in Berne submitted the formal extradition requests within the deadline laid down in the bilateral extradition treaty.
“The requests are based on the arrest warrants issued on 20 May 2015 by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, which is investigating the high-ranking Fifa officers on suspicion of taking bribes worth over $100 million.”
It is alleged that in return for the money, the officials awarded contracts for media, marketing and sponsorship rights to football tournaments in the United States and Latin America. The payments are said to have been routed through American banks.
In total, the US Department of Justice has indicted 18 people as part of its investigation. Four of them have pleaded guilty to corruption charges, including former Fifa executive member Chuck Blazer who has admitted taking a bribe to vote for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup.
The Swiss authorities are leading a separate investigation into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Days after the arrests, Sepp Blatter was elected to a fifth term as Fifa president, but less than a week later he announced he would lay down his mandate at an extraordinary congress which is expected to take place early next year. Blatter is reportedly under investigation himself by the FBI.
The seven Fifa officials facing extradition will now be given a hearing by the Swiss authorities regarding their case, after which they will have 14 days to prepare a response.
They can request an additional 14 days “if sufficient grounds exist”, and may ultimately appeal to both the Swiss Federal Criminal Court and the Federal Supreme Court.
The former Chilean FA president was in charge of evaluating 2018 and 2022 World Cup candidate countries, but has now been suspended for a seven-year period
The man tasked with evaluating the controversial 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids has been given a seven-year ban for a breach of Fifa’s code of ethics.
Harold Mayne-Nicholls, who had previously served as president of the Chilean FA, was employed by Fifa to chair its Bid Evaluation Group looking into the feasibility of all candidates ahead of the 2010 decisions by the world governing body’s Executive Committee.
But Fifa announced on Monday that Mayne-Nicholls has been exiled from all forms of the game after an investigation by the organisation’s Ethics Committee.
A statement read:
“The adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee, chaired by Hans-Joachim Eckert, has decided to ban Harold Mayne-Nicholls, former chairman of the Bid Evaluation Group for the 2018 and 2022 Fifa World Cups and former Chilean Football Association President, from taking part in any kind of football-related activity at national and international level for a period of seven years.
“The decision was taken following a hearing in the presence of the accused and the chairman of the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee, Dr Cornel Borbely.
“In accordance with article 36 of the Fifa Code of Ethics more detailed information will be given after this final decision becomes effective.”
A Sunday Times investigation found that the 54-year-old had been unconvinced by the Russia and Qatar bids that eventually won the right to host the finals tournaments, with his report regarding the unsuitability of the two countries said to have been widely ignored by the Executive Committee ahead of the December 2010 polls.
The former Concacaf general secretary has been given a lifetime suspension after being found guilty of a string of misconduct charges
Former Fifa executive committee member Chuck Blazer has been banned from all football activities for life.
A Fifa statement on Thursday confirmed the ex-Concacaf general secretary, who turned whistleblower for the FBI and Internal Revenue Service in his native USA after admitting several charges of conspiring to accept bribes and kickbacks, will now be prohibited from activity in any form of the sport.
The release explained: "The adjudicatory chamber of the Ethics Committee, chaired by Hans-Joachim Eckert, has decided to ban the former Fifa Executive Committee member and Concacaf General Secretary Chuck Blazer from taking part in any kind of football-related activity at national and international level for life.
"The decision was taken on the basis of investigations carried out by the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee in response to the final report of the Concacaf Integrity Committee and the latest facts presented by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
"Mr Blazer committed many and various acts of misconduct continuously and repeatedly during his time as an official in different high-ranking and influential positions at Fifa and Concacaf. In his positions as a football official, he was a key player in schemes involving the offer, acceptance, payment and receipt of undisclosed and illegal payments, bribes and kickbacks as well as other money-making schemes. He was found guilty of violations of art. 13 (General rules of conduct), art. 15 (Loyalty), art. 16 (Confidentiality), art. 18 (Duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting), art. 19 (Conflicts of interest), art. 20 (Offering and accepting gifts and other benefits) and art. 21 (Bribery and corruption) of the FIFA Code of Ethics."
Blazer was initially investigated by Fifa in 2013 but the probe was suspended due in part to his ill-health at the time. However Dr Cornel Borbely, Fifa's Ethics Committee chairman, decided in December 2014 to re-open proceedings and Blazer will now no longer play any role in football.
Blatter slams critics: Am I to blame for climate change too?!
By Mark Doyle
Jul 9, 2015 16:43:49
The Swiss believes that jealousy is behind the attacks on his time at the helm of the game's governing body
Fifa president Sepp Blatter says that he is being made a scapegoat for others' failings, sarcastically suggesting that some people would even go so far as to blame him for global warming.
The Swiss announced last month that he will imminently resign from his post as he no longer feels he has the full support of everyone within the game after football's governing body was rocked by a corruption scandal that resulted in the arrest of 14 people just two days before his re-election.
Indeed, Blatter feels that he has been unfairly maligned, given he has not been charged with any crime, and reiterated that he cannot be held accountable for the actions of every Fifa employee.
"I not only see everything, I'm responsible for everything, even for the English women's own goal at the World Cup recently," the 79-year-old is quoted as saying by Reuters.
"Am I responsible for climate change too?
"It is impossible to stamp out robbery and murder, even with a functioning courts system down to community level. Soccer is not better than our society.
"But this envy has been festering for years. Envy is a predicate to jealousy. And jealousy is rooted in love.
"This can, however, turn to hate. And that's what happened when this tsunami hit us two days before the congress."
The 14 arrests were the result of a FBI-led investigation into alleged corruption dating back to 1991, while Swiss authorities have opened a separate inquiry into the Fifa vote that resulted in Russia and Qatar being awarded the next two World Cups.
