WHAT HAPPENED TO THOSE BROWN ENVELOPES EACH WITH US$40,000?

Jun 08, 2015 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

---

The ongoing investigation into alleged bribery and racketeering in FIFA is heating up. This weekend further details have emerged about the US$10M in wire transfer payments made to the CONCACAF, payments which the South African Football Federation is insisting were to finance an African Diaspora Football Development Programme and not a bribe to win support for that country’s bid to host the  World Cup in  2010.
Further allegations are now arising in relation to the bid for the hosting of the 2010 World Cup. It is now been alleged that monies were demanded as bribes for Morocco. Monies were also alleged to have been solicited from another African country.
Many people believe that the present investigation into corruption within FIFA is part of a plot by the Americans to attempt to deny Russia hosting the next World Cup in 2018.
Those who are of this view have pointed to what they see as the belated actions of the Americans in going after those who were alleged to have been involved in these actions.
Whether the Americans have a political agenda or not should not detract however from what has to be seen as campaign over the past few years to clean up sport.
From penalizing those who use performance enhancing drugs to investigating fraud and corruption with the sporting world, the past few years have seen successful attempts by the Americans to clean up the image of sports.
This investigation into FIFA therefore can legitimately be seen as part of the overall efforts by the Americans to weed out unfair practices and corruption in the sporting world.
The FBI investigation may well reach Guyana. Many years ago, there was a report that brown envelopes, each containing US$ 40,000 were shared out at a CONCACAF meeting in the Caribbean. This column had urged for an investigation into whether any Guyanese official had accepted the payments offered and if so what became of that money.
Nothing was heard of this matter but you can bet the Americans have not forgotten this and will most likely send the FBI to look into this matter which can throw local football into further turmoil.
What is instructive about the current investigation is the length of time that it took. The American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is not short of investigative resources. In fact, the FBI may have far more resources at its disposal than any other law enforcement agency in the world. Yet it has taken it this long to meet the stage where they can unseal indictments.
That is something that Guyana needs to take note of. There are many persons in Guyana who are egging the new government to move swiftly against certain  members of the former administration who they were led to believe were up to their necks in corruption and racketeering.
The new government when it was in opposition had promised to clean up the government. Many are waiting expectantly to see the hammer drop on certain individuals.
Corruption cases are the hardest to prove. If the corruption involves kickbacks, this makes it more difficult because in this instance you would need whistleblowers and cooperating witnesses.
From reports as to how the FBI made its case, it seems as if they began their investigation by targeting a top official of CONCACAF. They then offered him a deal to either face charges or to cooperate in their investigation.
He reportedly cooperated by wearing a wire which has allowed the Americans to gather further information. Still it took the best resourced investigative arm in the world five years to reach this stage of indictment.
Closer to home, the Patrick Manning Administration deposed the Basdeo Panday government in 2001. It immediately launched a forensic audit of a number of government projects, including the Piarco Airport Development Project. As part of that investigation a special auditor from overseas was flown in to undertake the forensic audit. Charges were subsequently laid against a number of persons. That case has been going on for an eternity with so end in sight.
A law was even passed to place a time limit on how long a case could last. Thus if a case went on for more than seven years without a decision, the defendants could go free.
The law, later referred to as the Section 34 controversy, was passed. But the Americans who had by this time filed their own charges in the United States against persons connected with this case, protested and the very opposition party which has helped passed the law, took to the streets to protest the very law that they helped passed. Sounds a little bit like Guyana does it not?
It takes a long time and a lot of money to investigate corruption. Many people are complaining about the cost of the Rodney Commission of Inquiry.
Oddly enough, the Linden Commission of Inquiry also cost a fortune even though most of the Commission was comprised to local jurists. But that is how politics works in Guyana.
With all due respect to the auditors in Guyana, I believe that overseas assistance would be necessary to undertake the kind of forensic audits that would be needed to derive evidence that could lead to prosecution. I doubt whether Guyana would be able to afford international auditors seeing that even the government is complaining about the cost of the Rodney Commission of Inquiry.
These things cost money and they take time. People want certain persons behind bars, but they must understand that investigations take time and cost money. That time and money most governments believe should be better spent on other things.

---

---