segunda-feira, 1 de junho de 2015
12:48
At last, a challenge to the
impunity of FIFA
The arrest of officials should be the first stage in a thorough cleansing1
of a discredited organization
FEW arrests can have
provoked such Schadenfreude2 as
those of seven senior officials of FIFA, football’s world governing body, early
on May 27th at a Swiss hotel. The arrests are part of a wide-ranging
investigation by America’s FBI into corruption at FIFA, dating back over two
decades. The indictment3
from the Department of Justice named 14 people on charges including racketeering4,
wire fraud5
and paying bribes6
worth more than $150m. They are likely to face charges7 in a US federal court.
As more people start talking in a bid to sauve qui peut,8 the
investigation will with luck reach into every dark and dank9 corner of FIFA’s Zurich
headquarters (see article).
American
extraterritorial jurisdiction is often excessive in its zeal and overbearing10
in its methods, but in this instance it deserves the gratitude of football fans
everywhere. The hope must be that FIFA’s impunity is at last brought to an end
and with it the career of the ineffably complacent Sepp Blatter, its
79-year-old president, who was nonetheless11 expected to be re-elected for a fifth
term after The Economist had gone to print.
The evidence of
systemic corruption at FIFA has been accumulating for years, but came to a head
in 2010 with the bidding12
for two World Cups. When the right to hold the competition in 2022 was won by
tiny, bakingly hot Qatar, against the strong advice of FIFA’s own technical
committee, suspicions that votes had been bought were immediately aroused.13
Thanks to two female whistleblowers14
and the diligent investigative work of the Sunday Times, a wealth
of damning evidence was unearthed15
involving a Qatari FIFA official, Mohamed bin Hammam, who allegedly wooed16
football bigwigs17
in Africa with a $5m slush
fund.18
Under pressure,
Mr Blatter eventually agreed to set up a FIFA “ethics court”. He also appointed
Michael Garcia, the American lawyer who helped oust19 Eliot Spitzer from the position
of New York governor, to investigate the allegations of vote-rigging20 and kickbacks21.
Incredibly, Mr Garcia, who spent more than a year looking into the allegations,
never interviewed Mr bin Hammam or examined the trove of e-mails acquired by
the Sunday Times. Only a summary version of his report, itself
condemned by the investigator as “erroneous representations of the facts and
conclusions”, was ever published. Mr Garcia resigned and Mr Blatter sailed
serenely on, reneging on a commitment not to stand for election again. The idea
that a clearly tainted22
World Cup bidding process should be reopened was firmly squashed23.
The underlying problem at FIFA is that it controls
television and marketing rights (worth $4 billion at last year’s World Cup in
Brazil), which can be used by those in power to win the loyalty of football
federations from poor countries, particularly in Africa. Corruption is
tolerated, as long as the money is spread around. Critics of FIFA are dismissed24 as
bad losers and racists.
The language it
understands
Even now, there is no certainty that FIFA will
embrace reform. The initial test of its willingness to clean house should be
the replacement of Mr Blatter with someone who can be trusted with that
mission, which must begin with reopening the bidding for the 2018 and 2022
World Cups under conditions of complete transparency. If nothing changes,
others must act. UEFA, European football’s umbrella organization, should leave
FIFA and take its teams out of the World Cup. Europe’s broadcasters25 should decline to
bid for rights. And FIFA’s biggest sponsors—the likes of Adidas, Coca-Cola,
Visa and Hyundai—should realize that association with it risks damaging their brands.
They must hit the organization where it hurts most: in its bulging wallet26.
Until now the stench27
from FIFA has prompted people to do nothing more than hold their noses. That is
no longer an option.
Glossary:
1 – limpeza
completa
2 – alegria
3 – acusação
4
– extorsão
5 – fraude eletrônica
6 – suborno
7 – acusações
8 – cada um por si
9 - frio e úmido
10 – autoritários
11 – no entanto
12 – licitações
13 – despertado
14 – denunciante
15 – descoberta
16 - cortejou
17 – figurões
18 – verba para suborno
19 - expulsar
20 – fraude eleitoral
21 – propinas
22 – corrupto
23 – esmagado
24 – demitidos
25 – comentaristas
26
– carteiras lotadas de dinheiro
27 – mau cheiro
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21652328-arrest-officials-should-be-first-stage-thorough-cleansing-discredited?fsrc=nlw|hig|28-05-2015|LA
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- Verinha Giunta
- Hello People... Welcome to Verinha Teacher Blog!!! Aqui vocês vão encontrar dicas de estudo, matéria de prova e datas de entrega de trabalho. Videos e letras de músicas também... I hope you enjoy it !!!! Kisses Verinha
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