FIFA in throes of credibility crisis
By Ben Efe
Are there gangsters at the Zurich headquarters of the world soccer governing body FIFA? This is the million-dollar question football enthusiasts, corporate sponsors and governments all over the world are hoping to get an answer as the cash for vote world cup bid saga took a new dimension.
Former FIFA secretary-general, Michel Zen Ruffinen spilled more beans in another Sunday Times interview alleging that all the top guns in the FIFA executive committee have a price and they could be bought by any bidder with cash to spare.
Stung by this allegations FIFA asked Sunday Times of London for evidence and more heads are likely to roll, otherwise FIFA a once revered organisation would lose its credibility and of course this could spell doom for international football.
Sepp Blatter, FIFA President
“FIFA has immediately requested to receive all the documents and potential evidence that the newspaper has in relation to this matter, and will in any case analyze the material available,” FIFA said in a statement.
“FIFA and the ethics committee are committed to have zero tolerance for any breach of the Code of Ethics and the Bid Registration. FIFA and the ethics committee are determined to protect the integrity of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process.”
The ethics panel also is investigating two current and four former members of FIFA’s ruling executive following allegations by the Sunday Times that the bidding process is shrouded by corruption.
Amos Adamu of Nigeria and Reynald Temarii from Tahiti were filmed seeming to offer their votes in exchange for funding for soccer projects. They were provisionally suspended from all soccer duties after appearing last Wednesday before FIFA’s ethics court, which had videos and transcripts provided by the newspaper.
Adamu and Temarii will miss a two_day meeting of the executive committee chaired by FIFA President Sepp Blatter starting Thursday that is to set voting rules for the secret World Cup ballot on Dec. 2 in Zurich.
FIFA’s ethics panel also provisionally suspended four former executive committee members: Tunisian lawyer Slim Aloulou, Amadou Diakite of Mali, Botswana’s Ismail Bhamjee and Ahongalu Fusimalohi from Tonga.
FIFA needs to purge itself clean of this mess and come out with a cleaner image. This is because, apart from the World Cup bid fiasco, there are many others aspects where corruption has surfaced mostly when FIFA officials pay inspection visits to countries awarded the hosting rights of its junior tournaments.
