- Title: SOCCER-FIFA/BRAZIL-CBF Brazil Football Confederation removes Marin's name from HQ
- Date: 28th May 2015
- Summary: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (MAY 28, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF THE BRAZILIAN FOOTBALL CONFEDERATION HEADQUARTERS AFTER THE NAME OF FORMER CBF PRESIDENT, JOSE MARIA MARIN, WAS STRIPPED FROM THE SIDE OF THE BUILDING FOLLOWING CORRUPTION CHARGES CBF LOGO ON THE FACADE OF THE BUILDING BLANK FACADE WHERE THE NAME OF FORMER CBF PRESIDENT, JOSE MARIA MARIN, WAS UNTIL IT WAS REMOVED FOLLOWING CORRUPTION CHARGES CLOSE-UP OF HOLE IN THE WALL WHERE A LETTER FROM MARIN'S NAME WAS DRILLED TO THE WALL BLANK AREA ON WALL WHERE MARIN'S NAME WAS EXTERIOR OF FACADE FLAGS FLYING IN FRONT OF THE CBF HEADQUARTERS MORE OF CBF HEADQUARTERS RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (MAY 28, 2015) (REUTERS) A NEWS-STAND IN DOWNTOWN RIO CLOSE-UP OF THE O GLOBO NEWSPAPER WITH HEADLINE ON MARIN AND THE FIFA SCANDAL, READING, 'A TSUNAMI AGAINST CORRUPTION IN FOOTBALL' CLOSE-UP OF THE O DIA NEWSPAPER WITH A HEADLINE ON THE MARIN AND FIFA SCANDAL, READING, 'ROBBERY THE FIFA WAY' CLOSE-UP OF THE EXTRA NEWSPAPER WITH THE HEADLINE, 'FBI 7 X CBF 1'
- Embargoed: 12th June 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Brazil
- Country: Brazil
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVACRMEWH2BVWVPCH9UGQATJS49S
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) removed the name of Jose Maria Marin from the facade of its Rio de Janeiro headquarters on Thursday (May 28), one day after its former president was arrested in a huge FIFA corruption investigation.
A CBF spokesman said the organisation will release a statement later on Thursday to explain the change at its headquarters, a luxury building inaugurated last year when Marin was still the head of the confederation.
Calls to rename the building emerged on Wednesday (May 27) after Marin and six other FIFA officials were arrested on U.S. corruption charges in Switzerland, from where they face extradition.
Marin was the head of CBF from 2012 to April 2015 and headed the local committee for the organisation of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Up to his arrest, he was still part of a FIFA committee organizing the Olympic soccer tournaments and was a vice president at CBF.
Newspapers in Brazil led with the news of Marin's arrest and the corruption charges levied against him and the others at FIFA.
Images of Marin were on the front pages of several leading newspapers Thursday morning.
One of the more creative front pages was that of the daily 'Extra' which ran a headline reading "FBI 7 X CBF 1," a not so subtle comparison to the seven FIFA officials arrested by the FBI, one of which is from the CBF, and Brazil's 7 to 1 loss to Germany during the 2014 World Cup while Marin was still at the helm of the CBF.
The controversy started on Wednesday (May 27) when seven of the most powerful figures in global soccer were arrested in a dawn raid on a luxury hotel that FIFA used to host visiting officials.
All seven, including Marin, face extradition to the United States on corruption charges.
Swiss authorities also announced a criminal investigation into the awarding of the next two World Cups being hosted in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.
In total, 18 individuals involved in FIFA have had allegations levelled against them by the United States Department of Justice and the Swiss Attorney General's office.
The charges concern money-laundering, racketeering, fraud, bribery and possible corrupt dealing over the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup finals to Russia and Qatar.
FIFA officials were gathered in Zurich in part for the organizations presidential election which is slated for Friday (May 29).
Current FIFA President Sepp Blatter was widely seen as a shoe-in to win his fifth mandate at the top of the FIFA, though he now faces calls to step down from his post.
His only challenger is Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan.
A professor of sports law at the FGV University in Rio de Janeiro, Pedro Trengrouse, said it was important for the investigations to be carried out, though he questioned the timing of the arrests.
"It's possible, right, that they were using soccer to promote themselves. None of that invalidates the investigations. That means, if there was wrongdoing, if there was corruption, they need to be investigated and they need to be punished. This goes to show that sports managers aren't above the law. Now, on the other hand, we also have to recognize that it is at the very least 'strange' that such a long investigation comes out on the eve of FIFA's elections," Trengrouse said.
An indictment released by U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday lists four individual and two corporate guilty pleas the DoJ used to build its case.
One of those guilty pleas came from Jose Hawilla, the Brazilian owner and founder of the Traffic Group, a multinational sports marketing conglomerate headquartered in Brazil.
Through connections at the top of the Brazilian game, Hawilla has negotiated TV deals for South America's biggest tournaments since 1991, along with nearly half a billion dollars of sponsorships including Nike Inc and the Coca-Cola Co.
His hefty commissions were divvied up as kickbacks for soccer officials in Brazil and throughout the Americas, Hawilla told U.S. investigators as part of plea deal in which he also agreed to forfeit over $151 million.
Trengrouse said it is possible that the FIFA execs were not outside the rules when they made the lofty deals, saying the business behind the massive moneymaker that FIFA is may have moved too fast for regulations to keep up with.
"Because the written rules did not evolve as quickly as the business evolved, there is no control. So, it is really tough to make the managers responsible when they are beholden to the system. So great, maybe what they did was legal, what I mean by that is that what they did might not have been 'illegal,' but come on, it's not 'illegal,' but it's 'immoral."
Trengrouse was also quick to point out that as of now these are just allegations, saying the CBF's Marin has not been convicted of anything and that his name could be cleared just as quickly as he was accused of wrongdoing.
"He still has not been convicted of anything. He is responding to proceedings from the American justice system and until he is convicted, he is innocent. So, he might have been put there in a rush, and if he is removed, maybe he will be removed quickly. I think it is time just to wait and see," Trengrouse said.
But to many, the damage has already been done.
That is reflected in how quickly the CBF removed Marin's name from the outside of its Barra de Tijuca headquarters in Rio.
It might be just as hard for Marin and FIFA to claw back in the court of public opinion.
Former Brazil striker and current senator Romario has long been a critic of Marin, and he came out with scathing comments on him on Wednesday.
Those comments played out all over Brazil on Wednesday and Thursday as Brazilians learned of the allegations.
"All this with the CBF, [former Brazil striker and current senator] Romario already talked about it, didn't he? He's talking about it again. It's terrible for us Brazilians. What can we do?" Rio de Janeiro resident Norberto da Silva said.
"I think it is about saving face. That's it. It's not good to have a tainted image, but he's being investigated and the CBF shouldn't have the name of someone being investigated. It might be good for the institution," another resident, Wellington Rodrigues said referring to Marin's name being taken off the CBF HQ.
Hawilla's guilty plea and the U.S. graft charges against Marin have stirred hopes in Brazil that the biggest names in the sport were finally within the law's reach. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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