LONDON, May 27 (Reuters) - FIFA president Sepp Blatter and his election rival Mohamed Bin Hammam will appear on Sunday at an ethics hearing related to a possible case of bribery.
Blatter, who has held the post since 1998 and is seeking a fourth term, is due to run against Bin Hammam on Wednesday but with both men having to explain their conduct at such a late stage it is by no means certain the election can go ahead.
Q: Why has FIFA opened proceedings against Bin Hammam, Jack Warner and Blatter?
A: FIFA has opened an investigation into a possible breach of its ethics code by Bin Hammam and Jack Warner, the president of the CONCACAF confederation, following a report by Chuck Blazer, a fellow member of the executive committee.
Blazer told FIFA of possible violations of its ethics code, potentially involving bribery, at a meeting Bin Hammam and Warner attended along with Caribbean delegates in Port of Spain, Trinidad on May 10 and 11.
Bin Hammam responded by saying the probe should be widened to include Blatter, saying the president had evidence he did not report. As Bin Hammam made the complaint against Blatter, the Ethics Committee are duty bound to question him.
Q: What are the possible repercussions?
A: If found guilty, the consequences for the two men could be extremely serious. Inevitably, they would have to resign or be banned from the executive committee.
Q: What is the FIFA Ethics Committee?
A: The Ethics Committee was set up in 2006 to rule on conduct and procedural rules relating to FIFA’s affairs.
It is regarded as an independent judicial body within FIFA and comprises 13 members.
Sunday’s hearing will be chaired by Petrus Damaseb, a High Court judge in Namibia and vice-chairman of CAF, the African soccer confederation.
Ethics Committee chairman Claudio Sulser has excused himself because he shares Swiss nationality with Blatter.
Q: If Bin Hammam and Blatter are facing the Ethics Committee on Sunday, how likely is it the presidential election can go ahead on Wednesday ?
A: Clearly, the election is in some jeopardy. If the committee decides either man is guilty of anything they still have the right of appeal, but it is unlikely they could stand in those circumstances.
If they are found not guilty, there would be no real impediment to them standing, if the election still went ahead.
A third option could see the committee open and then adjourn the proceedings, in which case the election could go ahead as planned.
For the election to be postponed, a proposal would have to be put to Tuesday’s FIFA Congress and a three-quarter majority of the 208 members would have to decide against holding it.
Q: This is not the first time Jack Warner has been implicated on a FIFA charge, is it?
A: On the day the Ethics Committee came into being in September 2006, Jack Warner made a statement regarding accusations levelled against him regarding the sale of black market World Cup tickets.
He has also been involved in many other controversies and earlier this month was accused by the former chairman of the English FA, David Triesman, giving evidence to a British parliamentary hearing, of asking for $2.5 million to fund a building project for a school in return for voting for England’s bid to stage the 2018 World Cup. Warner strongly denied the accusation saying he had “laughed like hell” when he heard it.
Q: How damaging are the latest accusations to FIFA’s image?
FIFA’s motto “For the Good of the Game” has been badly tarnished by all the accusations levelled against senior officials in recent months.
Two executive committee members, Amos Adamu of Nigeria and Reynald Temarii of Tahiti, were booted off the executive committee after investigations into allegations they had offered to sell their World Cup votes for cash.
In all, allegations about corruption have now been publicly made against 10 of the 24 members of the powerful executive committee, and that now includes Blatter.
Hundreds of other people work for FIFA on development, educational and humanitarian projects around the world but their work has been overshadowed by the controversies at the top.
Blatter, who has held the post since 1998 and is seeking a fourth term, is due to run against Bin Hammam on Wednesday but with both men having to explain their conduct at such a late stage it is by no means certain the election can go ahead.
Q: Why has FIFA opened proceedings against Bin Hammam, Jack Warner and Blatter?
A: FIFA has opened an investigation into a possible breach of its ethics code by Bin Hammam and Jack Warner, the president of the CONCACAF confederation, following a report by Chuck Blazer, a fellow member of the executive committee.
Blazer told FIFA of possible violations of its ethics code, potentially involving bribery, at a meeting Bin Hammam and Warner attended along with Caribbean delegates in Port of Spain, Trinidad on May 10 and 11.
Bin Hammam responded by saying the probe should be widened to include Blatter, saying the president had evidence he did not report. As Bin Hammam made the complaint against Blatter, the Ethics Committee are duty bound to question him.
Q: What are the possible repercussions?
A: If found guilty, the consequences for the two men could be extremely serious. Inevitably, they would have to resign or be banned from the executive committee.
Q: What is the FIFA Ethics Committee?
A: The Ethics Committee was set up in 2006 to rule on conduct and procedural rules relating to FIFA’s affairs.
It is regarded as an independent judicial body within FIFA and comprises 13 members.
Sunday’s hearing will be chaired by Petrus Damaseb, a High Court judge in Namibia and vice-chairman of CAF, the African soccer confederation.
Ethics Committee chairman Claudio Sulser has excused himself because he shares Swiss nationality with Blatter.
Q: If Bin Hammam and Blatter are facing the Ethics Committee on Sunday, how likely is it the presidential election can go ahead on Wednesday ?
A: Clearly, the election is in some jeopardy. If the committee decides either man is guilty of anything they still have the right of appeal, but it is unlikely they could stand in those circumstances.
If they are found not guilty, there would be no real impediment to them standing, if the election still went ahead.
A third option could see the committee open and then adjourn the proceedings, in which case the election could go ahead as planned.
For the election to be postponed, a proposal would have to be put to Tuesday’s FIFA Congress and a three-quarter majority of the 208 members would have to decide against holding it.
Q: This is not the first time Jack Warner has been implicated on a FIFA charge, is it?
A: On the day the Ethics Committee came into being in September 2006, Jack Warner made a statement regarding accusations levelled against him regarding the sale of black market World Cup tickets.
He has also been involved in many other controversies and earlier this month was accused by the former chairman of the English FA, David Triesman, giving evidence to a British parliamentary hearing, of asking for $2.5 million to fund a building project for a school in return for voting for England’s bid to stage the 2018 World Cup. Warner strongly denied the accusation saying he had “laughed like hell” when he heard it.
Q: How damaging are the latest accusations to FIFA’s image?
FIFA’s motto “For the Good of the Game” has been badly tarnished by all the accusations levelled against senior officials in recent months.
Two executive committee members, Amos Adamu of Nigeria and Reynald Temarii of Tahiti, were booted off the executive committee after investigations into allegations they had offered to sell their World Cup votes for cash.
In all, allegations about corruption have now been publicly made against 10 of the 24 members of the powerful executive committee, and that now includes Blatter.
Hundreds of other people work for FIFA on development, educational and humanitarian projects around the world but their work has been overshadowed by the controversies at the top.
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