Swiss police arrest 10+ FIFA officials: indicted by US Dept of Justice

its utterly staggering how they got away with it all for so long without anyone doing anything. A lot of people need to hang their heads in shame

 

You got beaten to that one.

 

Resources, jurisdiction, and the biggest variable: they caught a fish who was willing to help them catch other fish to save his skin. This doesn't happen if Blazer wasn't caught dead to rights and flipped, because all the accusations and scandal count for little when you have powerful people with powerful lawyers. Had they gone after these guys with a flimsy case years ago they'd have beaten it, and today perhaps never comes.

 

Fair enough, but as a player he had a huge amount of substance. In fact his work rate and determination to make the most of what talent he did have, is probably why he was so successful. He was a very good footballer, but he knew his limitations and therefore played to his strengths and worked his socks off all the other times.

He was just "unfortunate" that he married a spice girl with a permanent pout, sounded as thick as a plank and became a highly successful brand that made him a multi-millionaire.

Poor sod

I bet he understands the value of being lucky!!

 

Spot on. He has done a LOT for the game, for England and for charity as well.

Not to mention that he is scandalously good looking.

 

Actually, I always thought he was over rated in the looks department. I've no problem recognising another fella as good looking, but I always though he was kind of meh!

 

Like the Jimmy Saville stuff, unbelievable its gone on so long with no one speaking out. Now everyone wants to talk.......

 

Hmm, this is very much the sort of thing that has been bothering me in all of this lately: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-33011847

 

That was the point I was raising...American law interferes with business deals we wouldn't blink at....but strangely especially if it is in the interests of an American company to do so. British or European business wants a bit of the action in America...they had better be sure that they've filled out their expenses claim carefully or a senior official could be arrested. Just because we like this action by the Americans, doesn't mean that their laws don't stink.

 

And it was a good point too. So before we get a little too loved-up by the USA remember that the good that they're upto is only being done in the interests of Uncle Sam, not justice for all.

 

And our habit of handing people over to them without a very strong case needs looking in to. It was intended to be part of the war on terror, but has been widened to include things that are hardly a threat.

 

One thing from that article:

There is such a separation...for the judiciary. The separation of powers does not include the FBI and the Department of Justice; they are explicitly a part of the executive branch of government.

You'd never see the US bring down the hammer for anything that trivial. These laws exist largely because the US dollar is the world's reserve currency, and the US is a banking hub. Consequently, they have a vested interest in ensuring that their financial institutions are not being used (either by the institutions themselves or third parties) as a waypoint for international crime, and to ensure that US-based companies or subsidiaries cannot launder money by handing it to a sister company for use as bribes. The potential scope is definitely a bit scary, but its application hasn't been; the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been on the books for nearly four decades, and it hasn't yet caused America's legal system to take over the world.

They aren't the only country with such laws, either; the UK Bribery Act allows similar. Big difference is that few of these corrupt worldwide transactions are undertaken in GBP, and/or are funneled through the UK. The USD is the global currency of shady dealings.

The example of BNP Paribas isn't a great one for illustrating overreach, because they have chartered operations in the US, were funneling money through their US subsidiaries after giving it a thorough laundering, and were falsifying records to cover it up. They knew they were in violation of the FCPA, tried to cover it up, and got caught.

 

That would be Qatar and the construction companies

If FIFA were a responsible organisation, then you would like to think that they would question any ill-practice carried out in relation to World Cup preparations, but they're not, as we know all too well

 

I only hope the latest scandal involving the FAI is enough to bring down our own Sepp John Delaney....To think that this parasite picks up a wage of 350,000€ a year is enough to make me physically sick... this is only the latest in a string of embarrassments for the man....He says time and time again the need for integrity and transparancy within football yet lets this slip under the radar for 5 years and isn't shown up in accounts. It's embarrassing and infuriating for the Irish football fans and the players involved....Recent scandals involving him include being caught singing IRA songs in local pubs...This was just after messing over thousands of loyal Irish fans with tickets for the Scotland game...he gives out tickets as how he fields fit and it was rumoured that he had 753 tickets to divvy round as he wanted while fans such as myself who were in Georgia, Faroe Islands and one of 45 Irish fans for a friendly in Serbia was left to sit in the home end. Me and several others while displaying Anti Delaney banners were forceably ejected or had our flags violently removed from us in the stadium at the recent USA friendly....He presides over what he calls the 'Problem Child' the League of Ireland which costs clubs more to enter every year than what they can get back in prizemoney. I heard from numerous people who have heard him say that he negotiated our draw with Estonia in the playoffs as an added bonus of the fallout from the handball incident....The above things are only the tip of the iceberg, I could go into far more. Anyway rant over...I hope the European media go to town on him

 

Gotta admit it's the first I've heard of him. Sounds like a right bellend though. Just the fact that he wrote off a world cup for 5 million euros is absolutely shameful. I'd be livid if I was an Irish man. Good luck getting rid of him!!

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...-bid-to-host-the-2006-world-cup-10301221.html

 

Holy. ****.

 

Once corruption is ignored, more and more people get encouraged to do it. I would rather England never hosted a WC than got involved...poisoned chalice...leave it to others.

 

Cash for votes is the simplest fraud to prosecute, but when votes are negotiated like this between governments then the lines become blurred.

From the seeming innocuous agreement of "you vote for us now and we will vote for you next time" to the allegations from that article, it proves that the current FIFA voting model is open to all kinds of abuse.

An abuse that probably was not considered when the system was put in place, but the commercial and financial rewards for a country to host a World Cup has increased dramatically over the last few decades.

 

The next bids need to be held publicly in a one-off situation and the voting held publicly.

Let's face it, it'd make a change from Eurovision and United Kingdom would still get nil points!