"World Cup of fraud"

The United States charged 14 high-ranking international soccer officials and marketing executives with corruption schemes involving more than $150 million. Thailand's Worawi Makudi was not among them, contrary to rumours circulating yesterday.

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US Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announces charges against FIFA officials at a news conference on May 27, 2015 in New York. AFP PHOTO/DON EMMERT

US prosecutors allege 'World Cup' of soccer fraud

Thailand's Worawi not arrested

New York, May 27, AFP –  The United States charged soccer officials Wednesday with corrupting a sport loved by billions, warning an investigation has just begun and seeking the extradition of suspects arrested in Switzerland.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch unveiled the complex international investigation spanning years, after seven soccer officials were arrested in Zurich in dawn raids by Swiss police acting at US request.

The 47-count US indictment charges 14 soccer officials and marketing executives with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies that span 24 years beginning in 1991.

The officials are charged with conspiring to solicit and receive more than $150 million in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for the support of US and South American sports marketing executives who agreed to make the illegal payments.

"Two generations of soccer officials," Lynch said, "used their positions of trust within their respective organisations to solicit bribes from sports marketers in exchange for the commercial rights to their soccer tournaments. They did this over and over, year after year, tournament after tournament."

A combination of file pictures made on May 27, 2015 shows present or former FIFA officials (LtoR, from upper row) Rafael Esquivel, Julio Rocha, Jeffrey Webb, Eduardo Li, Eugenio Figueredo and Jose Maria Marin. The US Justice Department announced on May 27, 2015 charges against nine present or former FIFA officials as part of a major investigation into corruption at the core of football's world governing body. Seven were arrested in Zurich, Switzerland. AFP PHOTO

Tens of millions of dollars had been hidden in offshore accounts in Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands and Switzerland, said Richard Weber, chief of the US tax agency's criminal investigation division.

"It was a World Cup of fraud. Today we are showing them the red card," he said. "It is a great day for the global fight against corruption, money laundering or international tax evasion."

Citing an example, Lynch said FIFA executives took bribes during the process that awarded the 2010 World Cup to South Africa, the first time that the tournament was held in Africa.

"Even for this historic event, FIFA executives and others corrupted the process by using bribes to influence the hosting decision," she told reporters.

Court papers allege that South African officials paid more than $10 million in bribes to host the 2010 Cup and handed over a briefcase stuffed with $10,000 stacks of banknotes in Paris.

Racketeering, the most serious charge, carries a maximum punishment of 20 years if defendants are convicted at trial. Other crimes in the indictment are punishable by up to five and 10 years in jail.

US officials would not be drawn on the possibility of future charges against other senior FIFA figures, and pointedly refused to answer questions about the body's president, Sepp Blatter.

"It's a significant step but I want to be very clear, this is the beginning of our effort not the end," said Kelly Currie, acting US attorney for the eastern district of New York.

Lynch said the US investigation into kickbacks was separate but parallel to a Swiss investigation into allegations of bribery in the process of awarding the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar.

Bangkok Post update

Worawi Makudi (PHOTO THANARAK KHUNTON)

Football Association of Thailand (FAT) president Worawi Makudi insisted yesterday he had nothing to do with corruption in the game.

Mr Worawi, who is in Zurich, said he was not among the seven officials and threatened legal action against those who accused him of involvement in corruption.

"I have nothing to do with the matter," he said. Mr Worawi was a Fifa executive member until recently when he lost his seat in an election.

After the vote to select the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts, England, which lost out in the vote, accused Mr Worawi of seeking personal gain in exchange for his support.

FIFA and England later cleared him of any wrongdoing.

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