SOCCER-FIFA/COLOMBIA Colombian soccer chief maintains no involvement in FIFA scandal

Record ID: 149925

  • Title: SOCCER-FIFA/COLOMBIA Colombian soccer chief maintains no involvement in FIFA scandal
  • Date: 2nd June 2015
  • Summary: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (JUNE 1, 2015) (REUTERS) WIDE OF HEADQUARTERS OF COLOMBIAN SOCCER FEDERATION FLAGS INCLUDING THOSE OF COLOMBIA, FIFA GENERAL EXTERIOR OF FEDERATION BUILDING CLOSE-UP OF LOGO OF COLOMBIAN SOCCER FEDERATION COLOMBIAN SOCCER FEDERATION PRESIDENT, LUIS BEDOYA, ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) COLOMBIAN SOCCER FEDERATION PRESIDENT, LUIS BEDOYA
  • Embargoed: 17th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Colombia
  • Country: Colombia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2EGJBW9PKLHX158GXC8UUUEFZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The president of the Colombian Soccer Federation Luis Bedoya convened a news conference Monday (June 1) to dismiss the possibility that his country's soccer establishment has had any involvement with the FIFA bribery scandal rocking the soccer world.
    Since last week, 14 FIFA officials and corporate executives have been charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with running a criminal enterprise that involved more than $150 million in bribes over two decades.
    The majority of the accused come from Latin America, with Brazilian and Paraguayan officials the latest to be blamed for misconduct. Indeed, investigators have contended commercial rights related to three editions of the Copa America have been marred by the scandal.
    On Monday FIFA's ethics committee provisionally suspended CONCACAF general secretary Enrique Sanz, a Colombian, from all football-related activities.
    The ethics committee said in a statement on Monday (June 1) that Sanz was suspended "on the basis of investigations carried out by the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee and the latest facts presented by the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York."
    Speaking in Bogota, the president of the Colombian Soccer Federation, Luis Bedoya, urged reporters to separate out guilty individuals from the wider soccer world. He then offered himself up to investigators after assuring there was no involvement on the part of officials from the Andean country.
    "I think there's something here that's clear, and that's the responsible parties are individuals. And so it pains me that the (Colombian Soccer) Federation or CONMEBOL (South American Soccer Confederation) is ensnared in all this because they are entities that are more than just each of us. They are bodies that represent the soccer of an entire country, continent, and so whatever someone has done as an individual, they have to provide a respond as an individual. I am always subject to the oversight and control of my directives or executive committee, and whatever circumstance that could come about resulting in me being forced to leave, I wouldn't hesitate for a moment," he said.
    Amid the revelations, the Uruguay-based Datisa company has been accused of paying roughly $100 million in bribes for the commercial rights relating to sponsorships for the quadrennial regional Copa America into the next decade.
    But Bedoya said at the news conference Colombia that the national soccer federation has not received one "peso" from Datisa.
    "We are at the disposition and will work with all the national and international authorities that require any explanation or investigation. The doors to the Colombian Soccer Federation, (and) the personal accounts of us are (available) to be reviewed to their (the authorities') complete satisfaction," he said.
    Bedoya went on to underscore that there are no "secret accounts" in Colombian soccer.
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