FIFA report details spending of Blatter era

LAUSANNE: A copy of a report seen by AFP into the state of FIFA commissioned by Gianni Infantino after his election as president shines a light on the murky ways of the old regime at world football’s governing body.

The 98-page “Progress at FIFA - Status Report” gives details of lavish spending, particularly by Sepp Blatter, the former president, and Jerome Valcke, his Secretary General, who had a taste for private jets and unjustified expenses.

The report covers the period from 2006 to 2015, the year the FIFA corruption scandal exploded, and was put together by Swiss audit company BDO who submitted it in October last year, though it has remained confidential.

BDO highlighted the lack of “a clear set of rules and regulations concerning expense reimbursement” resulting in payments “that would not be permitted under today’s guidelines.”Without giving any names, the report says “two former members of the FIFA Executive Committee were reimbursed for expenses in the aggregate amount of over $780,000 (632,000 euros) and $390,000, respectively, incurred during only one year.”

Over a five-year period, “a former high-ranking FIFA official was reimbursed for travel expenses in the total amount of over $300,000.” According to a source close to the report who was interviewed by AFP, that official was Worawi Makudi of Thailand, who has been suspended for five years for other misdeeds. The late Chuck Blazer, an American member of the FIFA Executive Committee until he was accused of corruption in 2013 and turned FBI informer, is also singled out.

Even though he was skimming millions of dollars from television rights contracts as a US court heard last year, Blazer did not scorn smaller scams. Having attended two FIFA events at the same venue a few days apart, Blazer was reimbursed for two return flights even though he had only made one. The non-existent extra tickets cost $13,000.

The son of a former member of the Executive Committee obtained $15,000 in compensation and expenses for a FIFA event which his father did not attend. The source identified the father as the late Isaac Sasso Sasso, from Costa Rica, who, according to FIFA, had one son, Alfredo.

The audit also highlights the lack of any “approval process for the use of private jets,” particularly by Valcke, who has since been suspended by FIFA.FIFA spent an average of US $4.9 million per year on jets 2010 and 2014, and $7.9 million in 2014 alone.

In 2016, the first year of Infantino’s reign, “spending on private jet flights dropped by 88 percent” compared to 2010-14, said the report.Until 2014, Blatter and Valcke each had sole control of an account into which FIFA paid money for them to donate to charities and organisations of their choice.