Swiss authorities question FIFA officials over 2022 World Cup bid

Ten FIFA officials who took part in voting on the 2018 and 2022 World Cups are being questioned by Swiss authorities, following the charging of fourteen officials with corruption earlier this morning.

A statement from the Swiss attorney general stated that criminal proceedings have opened “against persons unknown on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and of money laundering in connection with the allocation of the 2018 and 2022 football World Cups”.

It marks the latest development in the controversial saga of the 2022 World Cup allocation to Qatar, which has frequently provoked accusations of bribery and human rights abuse.

Fourteen FIFA officials were charged Wednesday with corruption, following an early-morning raid by more than a dozen plain clothes law enforcement officials on a Zurich hotel during which at least six were arrested.

Charges against the officials reportedly include racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy linked to World Cup bids, marketing and broadcast deals over the past two decades, three law enforcement officials told the New York Times.

The 47-count indictment alleged that, since 1991, the defendants corrupted international football by engaging in various criminal activities, including fraud, bribery and money laundering.

"Two generations of soccer officials abused their positions of trust for personal gain, frequently through an alliance with unscrupulous sports marketing executives who shut out competitors and kept highly lucrative contracts for themselves through the systematic payment of bribes and kickbacks," the Department of Justice said.

US Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said, in a statement released by the US Department of Justice, that FIFA's alleged practices had produced a "multitude of victims".

“The indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted both abroad and here in the United States,” said Attorney General Lynch. “It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks."

"It has profoundly harmed a multitude of victims, from the youth leagues and developing countries that should benefit from the revenue generated by the commercial rights these organizations hold, to the fans at home and throughout the world whose support for the game makes those rights valuable," Lynch added. 

Much of the inquiry involves Concacaf, one of six regional confederations affiliated to FIFA, which is short for the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, the law enforcement officials reportedly said.  

Swiss authorities named those arrested as FIFA Vice President Jeffrey Webb and officials including Eugenio Figueredo, Jack Warner, Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Rafael Esquivel, José Maria Marin and Nicolás Leoz, according to the New York Times. 

Guilty pleas from four individual defendants and two corporate defendants were unsealed on Wednesday.

Further charges were also expected against Alejandro Burzaco, Aaron Davidson, Hugo Jinkis and Mariano Jinkis, The New York Times reported.

Sepp Blater, the president of FIFA, is not one of the officials who was arrested, according to the Guardian.

The officials of football's world governing body were in Zurich for the organisation's annual meeting in which Blater was expected to be elected to a fifth term as FIFA's leader.

Fifa welcomed the investigation and intends to go ahead with the planned presidential election on Friday.

The arrests and charges stem from a joint investigation by the FBI and US tax officials that started in 2011 or potentially earlier, the New York Daily News reported.

US authorities are thought to be involved in the investigation because money was exchanged through US-based banks.

The Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) issued a statement saying the arrests came after a request from US authorities.

"The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York is investigating these individuals on suspicion of the acceptance of bribes and kick-backs between the early 1990s and the present day," the FOJ statement read.

"The bribery suspects - representatives of sports media and sports promotion firms - are alleged to have been involved in schemes to make payments to the soccer functionaries - delegates of FIFA and other functionaries of FIFA sub-organisations - totalling more than $100 million.

"In return, it is believed that they received media, marketing, and sponsorship rights in connection with soccer tournaments in Latin America."

Swiss authorities told the New York Times they were stunned by the extent of the allegations.

“We’re struck by just how long this went on for and how it touched nearly every part of what FIFA did,” said a law enforcement official. “It just seemed to permeate every element of the federation and was just their way of doing business. It seems like this corruption was institutionalized.”

'Good for FIFA'

Speaking at a hastily arranged press conference in Zurich on Wednesday, Walter De Gregorio, FIFA's director of communications, said that the arrests had made no difference to the decision to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in Russia and Qatar respectively.

However, he added that he wouldn't "go into speculation about what will happen tomorrow".

He also stressed that "the general secretary and the president are not involved in this procedure" but added that Sepp Blatter was not "dancing in his office" about the news.

"He's not saying 'wow wow that's really cool what happens here'," said De Gregorio.

The arrests come shortly before FIFA was set to hold its congress on Friday in which the organisation's next president will be elected.

The only contender aside from Blater, who is expected to win the election, is Jordan's Prince Ali al-Hussein.

Other candidates Michael van Praag and Luis Figo withdrew just days before the election, with the latter describing Blatter's presidency as a “dictatorship” claiming the elections were about the “delivery of absolute power to one man”.

Blatter hit back at the accusations on Tuesday.

“Luis Figo is free to say what he wants to say because he's free you can ask him why to be called [me] a dictator?” he said, speaking in Zurich.

“I have received so many titles, but I am still the president until Friday."

De Gregorio emphasised on Wednesday that both the congress and the elections would be going ahead "as planned" and attempted to put a good spin on the arrests claiming it was part of FIFA's "cleaning up" process.

“It is not a nice day, but in other words its also a good day because the process goes on and we look forward to having the results," he said.

FIFA and Sepp Blatter have long been the subject of criticism from football fans.

A poll of 35,000 fans in 30 countries released by Transparency International on Tuesday showed that 4 in 5 fans did not want Blatter to remain FIFA president. Nearly 70 percent said they had "no confidence" in the organisation.

'Morally corrupt'

FIFA's decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar has been mired in scandal.

A report by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has stated that up to 1,200 migrant workers may have died in Qatar since it was awarded the cup and warned that 4,000 are likely to die before the event starts.

The searing temperatures that the Gulf country experiences in summer have also added to speculation in some camps that the bid was not awarded fairly.

A former member of FIFA's ethics committee, Les Murray, told CNN in December that he was aware of incidents of FIFA's executives taking bribes.

"I know of one particular instance where one of the Australia bid team was asked for cash money by one of the executive committee members," Murray told CNN.

"I then reported that to the chairman of the investigative chamber of the executive committee, Michael Garcia, so even I have this evidence."

Murray also slammed the decision to award Qatar the Cup, saying that the country was "probably among the most morally corrupt regimes in the world, it treats its migrant workers like slaves, it has draconian medieval laws that are not in keeping with modern civilisation."

Qatar has denied allegations that it bought votes and was cleared of any wrongdoing in an investigation launched by FIFA in November.

In addition to the Qatar controversy, FIFA has also waded into the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) has repeatedly filed complaints to FIFA over Israel's treatment of Palestinian football players, a number of whom have been injured and killed during Israeli incursions into the West Bank and Gaza.

They have also complained that sports grounds have been attacked and the freedom of movement of Palestinian footballers has been restricted.

Last week, the PFA pushed for a vote to be held to suspend Israel from FIFA at Friday's congress, which would require three-quarter majority among FIFA's 209 members to pass the motion.