To his credit, he has called for an early convocation so the election can take place sooner. I am curious about what changed between last week and today.
Reality…his at least.
The FBI have barely scratched the surface and already people close to Blatter are being exposed and compromised. I don’t think he stands a chance of escaping this unscathed.
He may be seeking to distance himself while he can, must be too late for that I’d have thought but who knows what tricks the slimy fucking snake has up his sleeves?
aha! just as I suspected…Blatter *is *under investigation in the USA, the noose has indeed tightened.
I just figured he decided to devote full-time to becoming a Bond villain.
The Anti-World Cup will be held in Avignon.
I second that. He seems like a decent bloke and more in touch with the realities of playing football, mainly due to his age. Plating should be avoided as I fear he isn’t exactly sneaky clean.
It is going to be that Prince chap isn’t it?
I wonder what the odds are on Blatter quickly finding a new job as a soccer ambassador in Noextraditiontreatyistan
I have to admit that I’m a bit concerned that these prosecutions are taking place in the US. For some of the defendants it makes sense, but it seems to include a number of people who have never (or perhaps rarely) set foot in this country.
They used dollars and US banks in full knowledge of the risks of doing so. The foreign corrupt practices legislation isn’t a secret.
Anyway, as long as due process is followed they haven’t got anything to moan about and anyway, for most of us in the football world the fact that a thorough investigation is exposing the rotten core of FIFA is the main prize. Any fines and jail sentences will be icing on the cake.
One thing not widely discussed as yet is the fate of the Garcia original investigation into FIFA. A bullshit summary was produced and a more extensive but still redacted and condensed version was mooted. So what now? I suspect that the FBI must have the original but I’d like to see FIFA questioned on how they are going to handle that document now. What possible justification can they have for not either handing to the FBI or publishing it in full?
Nicely done.
If he doesn’t like it, he can go to Russia.
I heard some top advertising dollars were threatened if Blatter didn’t step down, so that may have played a big part in his decision.
For those looking for the person responsible for getting the ball rolling, one could do worse than to give credit to journalist Andrew Jennings who has been digging into FIFA for fifteen years.
The money quote:
Jennings was also involved in an earlier investigation into the IOC including the SLC mess, so he’s got some chops.
No, but extraterratorial jurisdiction of this sort is not exactly non-contentious. How would you like it if you were hauled up in a German court because you happened to have made a transaction involving a German bank.
It’s only extraterritorial if you ignore the fact that the transactions themselves are criminal acts that occurred in America. They might have been hanging out in Europe at the time, but the people arrested are believed to have committed crimes that occurred on US territory. To make an extreme analogy, these crimes are like firing a gun at someone who’s in the US while you’re across the border in Canada.
If I happened to be hauled up on charges in Germany because I funneled millions of dollars worth of bribes through a German bank, I’d probably regret having moved my money through a country that wasn’t kinder to criminal enterprises.
Should I assume you meant to say, “an illegal transaction”? Or did you mean “any” transaction?
Country “A” can charge a foreign national with violating various Country “A” laws. Assuming the foreign national is not physically in Country “A”, and Country “A” and Country “B” have an extradition treaty between them, Country “A” can request that Country “B” detain the person in question, and extradite them to Country “A” for trial.
Depending on the charge(s), Country “B” does not necessarily have to extradite the person in question.
It’s not firing a gun across the border, though. It’s more akin to firing a gun that was made in the US while both you and the victim are in Canada.
I meant any transaction. These people haven’t been convicted of anything yet, remember?
Unless the U.S. were to pass laws making it illegal to make any transactions thru German banks, there is little chance that the U.S. would charge someone for making transactions thru German banks, and no chance that Germany would play along.
Well I’d assume that when I’m using the bank of another country I’d be subject to the laws of that country.
As it happens I do have a bank account in a central European nation and, though I’m very careful not to funnel my drug, pimping and bribery cash through it, I realise that carelessness on my part could lead to charges and extraditions.
I rather suspect that those involved in the case of FIFA a well enough informed to know the risks as well.
Uh oh… Chuck Blazer’s guilty plea became unsealed today. He indicates in it that he helped facilitate a bribe for the selection of the 1998 World Cup, which was held in France.
The head of the 1998 France World Cup Organizing Committee? None other than Michael Platini. Oops…
That doesn’t necessarily mean that it was France that paid the bribe. Somebody else might have made an unsuccessful bribe. Morocco, Switzerland and England were the other candidates, though the latter two withdrew.