World Cup Panel Suspends, Fines Two Officials Over Vote-Sale Allegations
Nigeria’s Amos Adamu
Kambou Sia/AFP/Getty Images
Nigeria’s Amos Adamu was suspended for three years and fined 10,000 Swiss francs ($10,120).
Nigeria’s Amos Adamu was suspended for three years and fined 10,000 Swiss francs ($10,120). Photographer: Kambou Sia/AFP/Getty Images
Soccer’s governing body suspended two executive committee members following a corruption probe into bids to host the World Cup, increasing uncertainty over the race to stage the 2018 and 2022 events.
FIFA’s decision-making body was reduced to 22 members today as Nigeria’s Amos Adamu was suspended for three years and fined 10,000 Swiss francs ($10,120) and Tahiti’s Reynald Temarii was banned for a year and fined 5,000 francs. London’s Sunday Times said Oct. 17 that the pair would trade cash for their vote. They won’t be replaced before the Dec. 2 vote on future hosts.
The Zurich-based organization has battled to protect the credibility of its World Cup selection process since the newspaper story. FIFA also fined and suspended four other officials who were secretly recorded by undercover reporters. FIFA said it didn’t find enough proof of a reported pact between the Spain/Portugal and Qatar bids.
“The way FIFA and the ethics committee reacted in such a short period of time, less than month, shows how important it is for us to make sure that things are under control,” FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke said at a press conference.
The U.S., which estimated that the competition is worth as much as $5 billion to the hosts, is competing with Qatar, Japan, South Korea and Australia to stage the 2022 tournament. Russia, England and a joint Netherlands/Belgium bid are contending for 2018 along with Spain/Portugal.
A Secret
The Sunday Times said its story was based on evidence gathered by undercover reporters posing as lobbyists for a U.S. bid at meetings with Adamu and Temarii. Adamu asked for $800,000 to be paid into his bank account to build four artificial soccer fields, while Temarii asked for funds to finance a sports academy. No payments were made.
The suspensions mean the bidding countries may have to change their strategies.
Australia is the only candidate not to have someone of its nationality on the executive committee. Temarii, head of the Oceania confederation that previously included Australia, had said he’d support the Socceroos’ bid.
“Let me tell you a secret: We know more than one member of the executive committee,” Peter Hargitay, a strategist for Australia, told reporters last month.
England’s 2018 bid leader Andy Anson said yesterday that his nation’s bid would remain on track whatever the verdicts.
“We can win in both scenarios,” he said. He declined to say if Adamu or Temarii had pledged their support to England.
The remaining members of FIFA’s Executive Committee will meet tomorrow in a special session convened because of the ethics panel’s investigation.
Slim Aloulou, Amadou Diakite, Ahongalu Fusimalohi and Ismael Bhamjee were banned and fined $10,000 because they told reporters they could facilitate access to the men who’ll decide where the tournaments will be held. Adamu and Temarii have both publicly pleaded their innocence. Temarii has also filed a lawsuit against the Sunday Times.
Officials, including FIFA President Sepp Blatter and the head of Asian soccer Mohamed Bin Hammam, have been critical of some of the methods used by the U.K. media in recent weeks. That prompted a letter from England’s campaign to individual voters that sought to distance the bid from the country’s media.
Newspaper Criticized
Claudio Sulser, head of the commission that investigated the claims, also criticized the way the Sunday Times obtained its information and claimed the information wasn’t fairly presented.
“What I cannot tolerate is that they changed the way they presented the truth,” he said.
The investigation into the allegations of collusion between the Iberian bid and Qatar didn’t include interviews with any members of the executive committee. The Sunday Times and other newspapers named seven of the 24 voters as agreeing to pick Spain/Portugal for 2018 and Qatar for 2022.
“Am I’m sure that 2018 and 2022 are free of any collusion,” Valcke said in response to a question at today’s press conference. “I can’t answer this. I don’t vote and I have no idea what the discussions are between various members.”
While the Spain/Portugal bid repeatedly denied it had breached campaigning rules, Qatar didn’t comment during the investigation.
Rumors, Hearsay
“This puts an end to the rumors and hearsay which have dominated the agenda in recent weeks,” Hassan Al-Thawadi, head of the Gulf state’s offer, said in statement. “We have maintained a dignified silence to allow FIFA to deal with this issue. FIFA have now done so, they have given us a clean bill of health and it is time to move on.”
The country has pledged to spend $50 billion on infrastructure projects to ready itself for a possible World Cup in 2022. It was the only one of the nine bidders to receive a “high” operational risk rating from FIFA’s inspection team. Qatar had claimed in a press statement “the FIFA report describes the Qatar bid as ‘low risk.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Tariq Panja in London at tpanja@bloomberg.net; Carolyn Bandel in Zurich at cbandel@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Elser at celser@bloomberg.net
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