Swiss law-enforcement raided FIFA’s headquarters again on Wednesday as the criminal inquiry into the award of the next two World Cup finals tournaments intensified.
Sepp Blatter was among those whose office was subjected to a seizure of IT material ordered by the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland, which is investigating alleged corruption around the discredited 2010 vote that led to Russia and Qatar being handed the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.
Data was also taken from the offices of Blatter’s right-hand man, Jerome Valcke, as well as FIFA’s head of finance, in an operation staged a fortnight to the day since the OAG raided the same building after opening criminal proceedings against “persons unknown”.
That action coincided with an FBI-ordered dawn raid that led to senior football officials – including two of Blatter’s vice-presidents – being arrested as part of a separate inquiry into alleged corruption dating back almost a quarter of a century. The investigations culminated in the resignation of Blatter as president just over a week ago.
The seizure on Wednesday, conducted with the full cooperation of the governing body, came after the OAG identified IT material needed for its inquiry, for which it has already said Blatter and Valcke were not suspects
Its involvement in the saga began last year when FIFA submitted the report from its own internal investigation into the award of the next two World Cup finals tournaments, which unearthed potential criminal conduct but not enough to rerun the bidding process.
However, the chairman of its audit and compliance committee admitted at the weekend that could change if the OAG or FBI – which have far greater powers of investigation – found any evidence of bribery by the bid teams of Russia or Qatar.
Both have categorically denied any wrongdoing, with the Russian sports minister and FIFA executive committee member Vitaly Mutko saying before the raid became public: “The only thing I’m worried about is wrongful accusations.”
The fallout from the biggest scandal in sporting history did throw the bidding process for one World Cup into chaos yesterday after FIFA confirmed it had been forced to postpone that for the 2026 tournament.
Although the final vote could still take place at its 2017 congress in Kuala Lumpur, Valcke said: “Due to the situation, I think it’s nonsense to start any bidding process for the time being.”
Valcke was speaking alongside Mutko following a board meeting of the 2018 World Cup organising committee in Samara, Russia.
The same cannot be said for the process for replacing Blatter, who could be out of office before Christmas after FIFA scheduled a special meeting of its executive committee for next month in order to expedite his departure.
That meeting will determine Blatter’s leaving date, with December 16 the favoured option for an extraordinary congress to elect his successor. Blatter, 79, controversially chose to remain in power to oversee desperately-needed reforms at FIFA ahead of a presidential election, slated to be held any time between December and March.
The ExCo is empowered to determine the precise timetable but it was not scheduled to meet until the end of September before the announcement on Wednesday.
That is important for those figures who want to see the back of Blatter sooner rather than later because presidential hopefuls need to submit their candidacy four months prior to any election.
Meanwhile, Brazil legend Zico yesterday announced he will run for the FIFA presidency. The 52-year-old said it was his ‘duty’ to stand.
