FIFA whistleblower Blazer admits he and others accepted bribes for 1998, 2010 WCs

Jun 04, 2015 Sports

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Daily Mail – Chuck Blazer, one of the arch crooks in FIFA’s gallery of rogues, has admitted taking bribes for his votes in both the 1998 and 2010 World Cups.

Blazer also pleaded guilty to serial tax evasion and accepting bribes and kickbacks connected with the broadcast and other rights to five CONCACAF Gold Cups – the North and Central American confederation’s flagship football tournament.
This damning admission of high level criminal activity on the FIFA ExCo was contained in whistleblower Blazer’s plea-bargaining testimony transcript given to the FBI in November 2013 but made public for the first time on Wednesday night.
The 2018 World Cup in Russia whose qualifying draw takes place next month has also come under threat as the FBI, whose probe into FIFA’s serial corruption was pivotal to Blatter’s shock exit, are now investigating how Russia was awarded the tournament along with Qatar in 2022.
Part of Blazer’s evidence is redacted suggesting further sensational evidence involving the FIFA hierarchy has been kept under cover.
But Blazer, now lying seriously ill in a New York hospital suffering from cancer and pnuemoniia, admits: ‘During my association with FIFA and CONCACAF, among other things I and others

agreed that I or a co-conspirator would commit at least two acts of racketeering activity.
‘I agreed with others in or around 1992 to facilitate the acceptance of a bribe in conjunction with the selection of the host nation for the 1998 World Cup.
‘I and others on the FIFA executive committee agreed to accept bribes in conjunction with the selection of South Africa as the host nation for the 2010 World Cup.
‘I and others, while acting in our official capacities agreed to participate in a scheme to defraud FIFA and CONCACAF of the right to honest services by taking undisclosed bribes.’
The Blazer admission shows FIFA’s fraudsters also tainted the 1998 and 2010 Worlds Cups as well as the 2018 and 2022 editions currently being probed.
Qatar’s hosting has long been the subject of huge controversy since the double World Cup election in 2010. But Russia, who will have world football gathering in St Petersburg for the draw on July 25, has mainly escaped suspicion of any wrongdoing around its World Cup selection.
But added to the current Swiss police activity, there are now two ongoing criminal investigations into those Russia and Qatar bids.
The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland raided FIFA House a week ago and are currently examining the electronic data and documents that were seized.
An FBI official told global news agency Reuters that the World Cup bids would be part of the probe that is now looking beyond the alleged £100million worth of fraudulent activity by FIFA officials that took place in the United States as well as in the Caribbean and South America.
And Blatter himself, who resigned last Tuesday but wants to stay in charge until his successor is elected, is also under investigation by the FBI.
Russia 2018 World Cup chief Alex Sorokin, when interviewed last week, said: ‘We did everything the process wanted us to do. We are not concerned with any investigation.’
And a statement from their organising committee said: ‘The 2018 World Cup will be held for the first time in the territory of the world’s largest country. We will continue to work closely with FIFA towards this goal on a daily basis.’
The timescale still makes it highly unlikely that Russia would lose the tournament. And England, the country who could put on such an global event with the shortest of notice, are giving no indication of wanting to do so.
The word from the FA was that nothing whatsoever has been mobilised for a 2018 World Cup. Blatter is still running FIFA which rules out any FA bid for a tournament until he leaves the building for good.  And FA chairman Greg Dyke has already ruled out any England bid were there to be a re-vote of the Qatar tournament.
The 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar had taken offence at Dyke suggesting they wouldn’t be sleeping well in the wake of Blatter’s resignation sparking fresh doubts about their staging of the tournament.
Qatar FA President Sheikh Hamad told Dyke he should let the legal process takes its course and concentrate on delivering his promise to build an England team capable of winning the World Cup. Dyke said: ‘It’s pathetic isn’t it. They would say that, wouldn’t they. A year ago when the Sunday Times published that massive dossier about Qatar and the Qatar World Cup, the response from Blatter was that the British media was being racist because a lot of it involved corruption in Africa. I take offence from that and I do not think it was acceptable.
‘There is an email out there from FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke saying the Qataris ‘bought the World Cup’.
‘They denied it, but it is out there. Now that the Swiss authorities are investigating the process, we must wait and see what happens. If in the end they say it was a fair process then yes it should go ahead. But if they say, as I suspect, that an awful lot of money was thrown at this and some of it went to people it shouldn’t have gone to, then I do think there should be a re-bid.’
And Australia’s 2022 World Cup bid chief Frank Lowy said: ‘On a personal level since December 2 2010 when Australia received just one vote, I have nursed a bitter grievance. We ran a clean bid. I know that others did not and I have shared what I know with the authorities.’
But Qatar’s Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiyah countered: ‘No way can Qatar be stripped. We are confident of the procedures and presented the best file. It is because of prejudice and racism that we have this bashing campaign against Qatar.’
However FIFA stated categorically – albeit under Blatter’s discredited tenure – in Marrakech in December that nothing had emerged from Michael Garcia’s report into those murky 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids that could force a re-vote. And even the 28 day-length of a Winter World Cup in Qatar were agreed at the FIFA Congress last week.
The full Garcia findings have still to be published in full but in the event of the Qatar World Cup vote being re-run, Dyke added: ‘I think almost certainly the 2022 tournament will not go to Europe. I think it’s likely to go to Australia or America who were the two under bidders.’
Meanwhile South African’s sports minister Fikile Mbalula reacted angry to allegations that his Government had paid a 10m dollar bribe – sent via FIFA – to arch FIFA crook jack Warner for his 2010 vote.
Mbalula said: ‘Criminals can explain a bribe very well, I don’t know how bribes work. The money was to support African dispora in the Caribbean. It was an above board payment. We don’t know what compromised individuals say when they are compromised.’
FIFA secretary-general Valcke – to whom the South Africa FA sent their letter – said: ‘I’m beyond reproach and I certainly don’t feel guilty . I don’t even have to justify that I’m innocent.’
Warner, who is stage centre of where that 10m dollars went, has been charged on eight counts of fraud by the US Department of Justice, is on bail in Trinidad while his former FIFA ExCo colleague Nicolas Leoz , also facing eight corruption charges, is under house arrest in Paraguay.
Interpol is also helping now helping the US agencies in bringing these two arch crooks to justice. The pair are on red notices meaning they risk arrest anywhere they travel.
Meanwhile, former England captain David Beckham has blasted FIFA over the ‘despicable’ corruption allegations which led to the resignation of Sepp Blatter as president of football’s governing body.
The former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder issued a strongly-worded statement on Wednesday calling for major change at FIFA.
Beckham was a major figure in England’s failed bid to host the 2018 World Cup, which was awarded to Russia.
‘Some of the things that we now know happened were despicable, unacceptable and awful for the game that we love so much,’ Beckham told Sky Sports.
‘Football is not owned by a few individuals at the top, it belongs to the millions of people around the world who love this sport.
‘It is time for FIFA to change and we should all welcome it.’

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