 "Interpol issues alerts for 6 in FIFA scandal")
Interpol issued wanted person alerts on Wednesday for two former senior FIFA officials and four corporate executives, one day after Sepp Blatter's surprising announcement that he would resign as the head of soccer's governing body.
As broader questions about corruption at FIFA brought renewed scrutiny on the winning World Cup bids of Russia and Qatar, officials from both countries insisted that their right to host the games was not under threat.
Blatter, who led FIFA for 17 years and was seen as a towering and influential figure in global sports, resigned on Tuesday. The announcement came just four days after he was re-elected as FIFA president, as law enforcement officials in the United States confirmed that he was a subject of the federal corruption investigation that has ensnared the organisation.
One answer may come on Wednesday, when a judge in New York is expected to order the release the transcript of a 2013 hearing in which Chuck Blazer, a former member of FIFA's executive committee who is now cooperating with the American authorities, pleaded guilty to racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering as part of an investigation into corruption in global soccer.
The Interpol alerts, so-called red notices, issued at the request of the United States, include the former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner, who is from Trinidad and Tobago and is accused of accepting bribes in connection with the awarding of the 2010 World Cup to South Africa; Nicolás Leoz, a Paraguayan citizen and former FIFA executive committee member; Alejandro Burzaco, an Argentine who controls a sports marketing business based in Argentina; Hugo and Mariano Jinkis, Argentines who own a sports marketing business; and Jose Margulies, a Brazilian citizen who owns broadcasting businesses.
Publishing head shots of the six men on its website, Interpol said they were wanted "for charges including racketeering, conspiracy and corruption."
Red notices are issued by Interpol to inform member nations that an arrest warrant has been issued for an individual, and that Interpol is seeking "the location and arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition or similar lawful action." But, crucially, red notices are not international arrest warrants, and Interpol does not have the power to compel other countries to arrest the subject of a red notice.
Russia, which will host the World Cup in 2018, and Qatar, the site of the 2022 event, made clear that they would fiercely object to any effort to strip them of the tournament.
After Blatter's announcement on Tuesday, Greg Dyke, the chairman of the Football Association in England, angered Qatar by suggesting the country should be nervous about its plans to host the World Cup.
"We would urge Dyke to let the legal process take its course and concentrate on delivering his promise to build an England team capable of winning the 2022 World Cup in Qatar," Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Thani, president of the Qatar Football Association, said in a statement.
He said that the country had been cleared of any wrongdoing, and welcomed an investigation by the Swiss authorities into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Qatar also sought to rebut a blog post on the website of The Washington Post alleging that 1,200 migrant workers were estimated to have died while working in construction for the 2022 World Cup.
"This is completely untrue. In fact, after almost five million work-hours on World Cup construction sites, not a single worker's life has been lost," the Government Communications Office was quoted as saying by the state-run Qatar News Agency.
Qatar has faced widespread criticism for the safety and treatment of migrant workers building the stadiums needed for the tournament, and the decision to award the World Cup to a country with a sweltering climate that is inhospitable for soccer has also been questioned.
The Qatari government has since said that it wants to prevent abuses, and it has introduced a system of oversight intended to ensure that workers' salaries are paid, but a report by Amnesty International released last month said that Qatar was failing to live up to its promises.
Officials in Russia, which has been the subject of criticism for its human rights record, lashed out at the idea that the 2018 World Cup could be subject to a new vote. Writing on Twitter, Alexander Yakovenko, Russia's ambassador to Britain, said that claims that Russia could lose its right to host the games were "preposterous."
"We have support of FIFA, despite outside pressure," he wrote. The Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, expressed his support for Blatter last week, and said the American inquiry amounted to meddling.
Blatter, a tenacious leader who has managed to distance himself from scandal in the past, appeared to yield to mounting pressure on Tuesday, when he announced his resignation. Speaking in French in front of a sparse audience at FIFA headquarters in Zurich, he said he would resign, although that process will take months.
Blatter showed up for work on Wednesday at FIFA headquarters, and a briefing was held for 350 staff members, a BBC reporter said on Twitter.
On Wednesday, Blatter's daughter, Corinne Blatter-Andenmatten, told the Swiss daily newspaper Blick that her father's resignation was not prompted by the corruption accusations. "His decision has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with the allegations going around," she told the paper.
UEFA, European soccer's governing body, has postponed a meeting in Berlin that was set for this weekend that was originally intended to discuss how to respond to Blatter's re-election as president of FIFA. UEFA's president, Michel Platini, said in a statement that the investigation underway in the United States was "unpredictable" and that it was better to wait and assess the situation after Blatter's announcement that he would resign.
Hyundai Motor Company, the South Korean carmaker, on Wednesday became the latest FIFA sponsor to welcome Blatter's announcement. Hyundai and Kia Motors Corporation, joint sponsors of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, said it was a "positive first step" and would allow an overhaul of how FIFA was administered.
The comments came after Visa said it expected FIFA to "rebuild a culture with strong ethical practices," and Coca-Cola called Blatter's announcement a "positive step for the good of sport, football and its fans."
Speculation continued to swirl about who would replace Blatter as president of FIFA, with Platini quickly emerging as a likely candidate. Platini once was so close to Blatter, 79, that he characterized him as an uncle, but he became one of his toughest critics and asked him on Friday to resign.
Platini, 59, was a star player and later a coach for the French national team, and he played a central role in organising France's 1998 World Cup. But FIFA members may prefer a fresher face.
Another contender is Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, who ran a strong campaign against Blatter in last week's election, losing to him 133 to 73 in the first ballot before conceding. He ran on a platform of rooting out corruption from the organization, and on Tuesday he told CNN that he would be "at the disposal" of anyone who wanted to bring about change at FIFA, including those who might have been "afraid to do so" before Blatter's announcement.
Another potential candidate is Chung Mong-joon, a South Korean billionaire and former vice president of FIFA, who on Wednesday urged Blatter to recuse himself from the process of selecting a successor.
"It doesn't make sense that a man who is a target of reform is talking about leading the reform," said Chung, a persistent critic of Blatter, at a news conference at the Korea Football Association in Seoul, the South Korean capital. "He must stop handling FIFA matters. He should not handle financial decisions or serve on the election management committee."
On Wednesday, Frank Lowy, chairman of the Football Federation of Australia, issued an open letter about Blatter's resignation and Australia's failed bid to host the 2010 World Cup, suggesting that his organisation had paid funds to FIFA that ended up in the hands of Warner.
Lowy said that the Australian federation had donated money to Concacaf, the umbrella federation for North and Central America, which had asked Australia to donate $4 million for a feasibility study for the development of a center of excellence in Trinidad and Tobago. Instead, he said, the association compromised and offered $500,000. He said that a Concacaf investigation subsequently found that Warner had committed fraud and misappropriated the funds.
"We ran a clean bid and we are proud of that but it wasn't a level playing field and therefore we didn't win it," he wrote. "I will always be bitterly disappointed about the outcome."
South Africa's minister of sports, Fikile Mbalula, on Wednesday repeated emphatic denials from others in his country that $10 million in bribes had been paid to help secure the 2010 World Cup. He said South Africa was rewarded for its hard work and effective lobbying, adding that a $10 million payment had been made but that it was part an "approved program" to develop soccer in the Caribbean.
"We have a responsibility to defend the legacy of the World Cup, and our country's reputation, integrity and sovereignty," he said at a news conference in Johannesburg. "We are not opposed to the US investigation and will not stand in the way of it."
He also said the United States had an obligation to share the evidence underlying the accusations that he said were undermining his country's reputation.
As broader questions about corruption at FIFA brought renewed scrutiny on the winning World Cup bids of Russia and Qatar, officials from both countries insisted that their right to host the games was not under threat.
Blatter, who led FIFA for 17 years and was seen as a towering and influential figure in global sports, resigned on Tuesday. The announcement came just four days after he was re-elected as FIFA president, as law enforcement officials in the United States confirmed that he was a subject of the federal corruption investigation that has ensnared the organisation.
More From This Section
Blatter was defiant after winning his fifth term, declaring, "I forgive but I don't forget," raising the question of what led to his about-face. (WHO AFTER BLATTER?)
One answer may come on Wednesday, when a judge in New York is expected to order the release the transcript of a 2013 hearing in which Chuck Blazer, a former member of FIFA's executive committee who is now cooperating with the American authorities, pleaded guilty to racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering as part of an investigation into corruption in global soccer.
The Interpol alerts, so-called red notices, issued at the request of the United States, include the former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner, who is from Trinidad and Tobago and is accused of accepting bribes in connection with the awarding of the 2010 World Cup to South Africa; Nicolás Leoz, a Paraguayan citizen and former FIFA executive committee member; Alejandro Burzaco, an Argentine who controls a sports marketing business based in Argentina; Hugo and Mariano Jinkis, Argentines who own a sports marketing business; and Jose Margulies, a Brazilian citizen who owns broadcasting businesses.
Publishing head shots of the six men on its website, Interpol said they were wanted "for charges including racketeering, conspiracy and corruption."
Red notices are issued by Interpol to inform member nations that an arrest warrant has been issued for an individual, and that Interpol is seeking "the location and arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition or similar lawful action." But, crucially, red notices are not international arrest warrants, and Interpol does not have the power to compel other countries to arrest the subject of a red notice.
Russia, which will host the World Cup in 2018, and Qatar, the site of the 2022 event, made clear that they would fiercely object to any effort to strip them of the tournament.
After Blatter's announcement on Tuesday, Greg Dyke, the chairman of the Football Association in England, angered Qatar by suggesting the country should be nervous about its plans to host the World Cup.
"We would urge Dyke to let the legal process take its course and concentrate on delivering his promise to build an England team capable of winning the 2022 World Cup in Qatar," Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Thani, president of the Qatar Football Association, said in a statement.
He said that the country had been cleared of any wrongdoing, and welcomed an investigation by the Swiss authorities into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Qatar also sought to rebut a blog post on the website of The Washington Post alleging that 1,200 migrant workers were estimated to have died while working in construction for the 2022 World Cup.
"This is completely untrue. In fact, after almost five million work-hours on World Cup construction sites, not a single worker's life has been lost," the Government Communications Office was quoted as saying by the state-run Qatar News Agency.
Qatar has faced widespread criticism for the safety and treatment of migrant workers building the stadiums needed for the tournament, and the decision to award the World Cup to a country with a sweltering climate that is inhospitable for soccer has also been questioned.
The Qatari government has since said that it wants to prevent abuses, and it has introduced a system of oversight intended to ensure that workers' salaries are paid, but a report by Amnesty International released last month said that Qatar was failing to live up to its promises.
Officials in Russia, which has been the subject of criticism for its human rights record, lashed out at the idea that the 2018 World Cup could be subject to a new vote. Writing on Twitter, Alexander Yakovenko, Russia's ambassador to Britain, said that claims that Russia could lose its right to host the games were "preposterous."
"We have support of FIFA, despite outside pressure," he wrote. The Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, expressed his support for Blatter last week, and said the American inquiry amounted to meddling.
Blatter, a tenacious leader who has managed to distance himself from scandal in the past, appeared to yield to mounting pressure on Tuesday, when he announced his resignation. Speaking in French in front of a sparse audience at FIFA headquarters in Zurich, he said he would resign, although that process will take months.
Blatter showed up for work on Wednesday at FIFA headquarters, and a briefing was held for 350 staff members, a BBC reporter said on Twitter.
On Wednesday, Blatter's daughter, Corinne Blatter-Andenmatten, told the Swiss daily newspaper Blick that her father's resignation was not prompted by the corruption accusations. "His decision has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with the allegations going around," she told the paper.
UEFA, European soccer's governing body, has postponed a meeting in Berlin that was set for this weekend that was originally intended to discuss how to respond to Blatter's re-election as president of FIFA. UEFA's president, Michel Platini, said in a statement that the investigation underway in the United States was "unpredictable" and that it was better to wait and assess the situation after Blatter's announcement that he would resign.
Hyundai Motor Company, the South Korean carmaker, on Wednesday became the latest FIFA sponsor to welcome Blatter's announcement. Hyundai and Kia Motors Corporation, joint sponsors of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, said it was a "positive first step" and would allow an overhaul of how FIFA was administered.
The comments came after Visa said it expected FIFA to "rebuild a culture with strong ethical practices," and Coca-Cola called Blatter's announcement a "positive step for the good of sport, football and its fans."
Speculation continued to swirl about who would replace Blatter as president of FIFA, with Platini quickly emerging as a likely candidate. Platini once was so close to Blatter, 79, that he characterized him as an uncle, but he became one of his toughest critics and asked him on Friday to resign.
Platini, 59, was a star player and later a coach for the French national team, and he played a central role in organising France's 1998 World Cup. But FIFA members may prefer a fresher face.
Another contender is Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, who ran a strong campaign against Blatter in last week's election, losing to him 133 to 73 in the first ballot before conceding. He ran on a platform of rooting out corruption from the organization, and on Tuesday he told CNN that he would be "at the disposal" of anyone who wanted to bring about change at FIFA, including those who might have been "afraid to do so" before Blatter's announcement.
Another potential candidate is Chung Mong-joon, a South Korean billionaire and former vice president of FIFA, who on Wednesday urged Blatter to recuse himself from the process of selecting a successor.
"It doesn't make sense that a man who is a target of reform is talking about leading the reform," said Chung, a persistent critic of Blatter, at a news conference at the Korea Football Association in Seoul, the South Korean capital. "He must stop handling FIFA matters. He should not handle financial decisions or serve on the election management committee."
On Wednesday, Frank Lowy, chairman of the Football Federation of Australia, issued an open letter about Blatter's resignation and Australia's failed bid to host the 2010 World Cup, suggesting that his organisation had paid funds to FIFA that ended up in the hands of Warner.
Lowy said that the Australian federation had donated money to Concacaf, the umbrella federation for North and Central America, which had asked Australia to donate $4 million for a feasibility study for the development of a center of excellence in Trinidad and Tobago. Instead, he said, the association compromised and offered $500,000. He said that a Concacaf investigation subsequently found that Warner had committed fraud and misappropriated the funds.
"We ran a clean bid and we are proud of that but it wasn't a level playing field and therefore we didn't win it," he wrote. "I will always be bitterly disappointed about the outcome."
South Africa's minister of sports, Fikile Mbalula, on Wednesday repeated emphatic denials from others in his country that $10 million in bribes had been paid to help secure the 2010 World Cup. He said South Africa was rewarded for its hard work and effective lobbying, adding that a $10 million payment had been made but that it was part an "approved program" to develop soccer in the Caribbean.
"We have a responsibility to defend the legacy of the World Cup, and our country's reputation, integrity and sovereignty," he said at a news conference in Johannesburg. "We are not opposed to the US investigation and will not stand in the way of it."
He also said the United States had an obligation to share the evidence underlying the accusations that he said were undermining his country's reputation.