- Title: SOCCER-FIFA/BLAZER DOCUMENTS Court unseals Blazer plea document from 2013
- Date: 3rd June 2015
- Summary: ZURICH, SWITZERLAND (FILE-MAY 29, 2011) (REUTERS) FIFA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER CHUCK BLAZER (WITH BEARD) IN CAR ARRIVING AT HOTEL CAR DRIVING INTO HOTEL BLAZER GETTING OUT OF CAR ABU DHABI, UAE (FILE-DECEMBER 7, 2010) (REUTERS) WIDE SHOT OF CLUB WORLD CUP PRESS CONFERENCE BLAZER SITTING ON PANEL WITH FIFA GENERAL SECRETARY JEROME VALCKE BLAZER ADDRESSING CLUB WORLD CUP
- Embargoed: 18th June 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA6T08X63KA93XZGACF05RQ7NM2
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: On Wednesday (June 3), the partially blacked out transcript of the November 2013 guilty plea of Charles Blazer, a U.S. citizen and FIFA executive committee member from 1997 to 2013, showed that Blazer and others in FIFA agreed to accept bribes in bidding for the 1998 World Cup in France and 2010 in South Africa.
"Among other things, I agreed with other persons in or around 1992 to facilitate the acceptance of a bribe in conjunction with the selection of the host nation for the 1998 World Cup," Blazer told a federal judge in New York, according to the transcript.
He went on to say that from 2004 and through 2011 "I and others on the FIFA executive committee agreed to accept bribes in conjunction with the selection of South Africa as the host nation for the 2010 World Cup."
The transcript also disclosed that Blazer accepted bribes and kickbacks in conjunction to the broadcast rights for the various Gold Cup tournaments during his tenure at CONCACAF.
Blazer has been a key source of information for the FBI's investigation of bribery and corruption at FIFA, which a U.S. law enforcement official said would include scrutiny of how soccer's governing body awarded World Cup hosting rights to Russia and Qatar.
Russia and Qatar have denied wrongdoing in the conduct of their bids for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, which were not the subject of charges announced by U.S. prosecutors a week ago against FIFA officials that stunned world soccer.
The U.S. law enforcement official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the review of the bids would be part of a probe that goes beyond the indictments. Among issues the FBI is examining is the stewardship of FIFA by longtime president Sepp Blatter, who unexpectedly announced on Tuesday he was resigning shortly before it emerged that he too was under investigation by U.S. law enforcement.
Authorities said last week that they were investigating a case of $150 million paid in bribes over two decades while Swiss prosecutors announced their own criminal inquiry into the 2018 and 2022 bids. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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