For the first time in the history of the organisation since its inception, FIFA has admitted to the fact that votes were bought in the erstwhile World Cup hosting contests as it said that the institution is seeking to claim “tens of millions of dollars” in bribe amount that had been previously seized by the US federal prosecutors.
On Tuesday, FIFA submitted a 22-page claim to the US Attorney's office in New York that seeks a major chunk in restitution for an amount which is likely to cross 190 million dollars that has been already relinquished by a number of football and marketing officials who pleaded guilty in the sprawling corruption scandal.
It is highly possible that approximately another ten million dollars will be collected by the US authorities when the sentences are handed down from a decent number of FIFA officials who have denied all the charges that have been made against them and are currently fighting for their case.
According to FIFA, the corrupt culture of taking bribes was embedded into the very core of the organisation during the reigns of Joao Havelange and Sepp Blatter, who was forced to resign after 17 years due to his involvement in the scandal.
Abused positions of trust: Infantino
On Wednesday, the FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in a statement, “The convicted defendants abused the positions of trust they held at FIFA and other international football organisations and caused serious and lasting damage to FIFA.”
“The monies they pocketed belonged to global football and were meant for the development and promotion of the game. FIFA as the world governing body of football wants that money back and we are determined to get it no matter how long it takes,” he further added.
In the documents that have been witnessed by The Associated Press, FIFA has asked for the following:
- $28.2 million for years of payments, including bonuses, flights and daily expenses, to officials it now says are corrupt.
- $10 million for the "theft" of money that FIFA officials transferred as bribes to then-executive committee members to vote for South Africa as 2010 World Cup host.
- "Substantial" cost of legal bills since separate U.S. and Swiss federal probes of corruption in international soccer were revealed last May.
- Damages for harm to its reputation, plus other bribes and kickbacks for media rights to non-FIFA competitions but "which were made possible because of the value of the FIFA brand".
In its claim, the lawyers who are representing FIFA have stated, “FIFA has become notable for the defendants' bribery and corruption, not its many good works. FIFA is entitled to restitution for this harm to its business relationships, reputation and intangible property."
FIFA's claim for a share of the money has set up a conflict between the two of its regional administrative bodies, CONMEBOL (South America) and CONCACAF(North America) since most of the officials who are involved in this corruption scandal comes from those two organisations.
Most of the already ceased money which amounts to nearly $151.7 million should come from a Brazilian marketing executive, Jose Hawilla, whose group of agencies was actively involved with matches which were controlled by CONMEBOL and CONCACAF but not with those which were controlled directly by FIFA.
