ZÜRICH. Moin, moin, willkommen am Hauptsitz der FIFA-Mafia. Nach einem selten bizarren Erlebnis gestern Abend, der Pressekonferenz der so genannten FIFA-Ethikkommission, flankiert vom Lügenbaron Jerome Valcke, FIFA-Generalsekretär, werde ich an den kommenden drei Tagen bis zur Krönungsmesse halbwegs live bloggen. Es gibt mit boshafter Regelmäßigkeit Links und Schnipsel und Dokumente des Grauens – und vielleicht sogar einige Gedanken. Who knows. Es wird auf jeden Fall ein ziemlich langer Beitrag. Also, immer mal aktualisieren und ans Ende scrollen.

Ehre wem Ehre gebührt: Beginnen wir mit Petrus Damaseb aus Namibia, dem stellvertretenden Chef der „Ethikkommission“.

[youtube FzMAJ4oGOZc nolink]

Hier kann man die komplette Pressekonferenz, die vom FIFA-Kommunikationsverhinderer Nicolas Maingot wie üblich resolut beendet wurde, sehen und hören.

Natürlich ist diese „Ethikkommission“ kein unabhängiges Gremium, sondern eine lächerliche Institution, die sich für den bislang größten Schmiergeldskandal der Sportgeschichte, die 141 ISL-Millionen, nicht interessierte – warum auch, schließlich zahlte die FIFA 5,5 Millionen Franken Schweigegeld (und mehr), um die Namen von Schmiergeldempfängern geheim zu halten. Kurz noch einige Argumente und Hintergründe, nichts Neues für Stammleser:

• Stil- und Textkritik: der FIFA-Ethikcode
• update: Korruption in der FIFA

Über die Entscheidungen der „“ habe ich für den Deutschlandfunk gestern das Sportgespräch mit dem Schweizer Nationalrat Roland Büchel (SVP) und Carlos Hanimann von der WOZ geführt:

:

Jack Austin Warner sagt dazu übrigens – Lesebefehl! (Gestern Nacht in den Kommentaren wie einige andere Lesebefehle natürlich schon verlinkt.)

I attended the FIFA enquiry today at 12 noon pursuant to a request made of me by FIFA to answer allegation made by Chuck Blazer, General Secretary of CONCACAF.

I have learned this evening via the media that I have been provisionally suspended by the FIFA Ethics Committee. This has come both as a shock and surprise to me. At the conclusion of the enquiry I specifically requested that I be notified of any decision as I had learned via the media before attending the hearing that a decision would be handed down at 5:00PM. Despite leaving my contact details, up to this point, I still have not received any notification from the FIFA.

At the hearing I indicated that I submitted two written statements outlining my position. I expressed my disappointment with the way in which the enquiry was conducted as I was given less than twenty four hours to submit a statement for consideration by the committee and, moreover, one of the five members of the Committee is from Uruguay and did not have the value of a translated version of my or Mr bin Hammam’s submission. This lack of translation services brings into question the issue of due process.

In addition, FIFA did not have the courtesy to provide me with copies of the allegations before the hearing and it was only during the hearing were the allegations read to me.

At the hearing, among other things, I was asked about the special meeting with the CFU to hear Mr Bin Hammam and whether such a meeting was normal I indicated that President Blatter earlier this year had held a similar meeting in South Africa with thirty seven countries and no objections had been made of that to date. In fact this has been the practice of FIFA in holding meetings with member countries before elections.

I denied the allegations that I made statements at the CFU meeting about gifts being given by Mr Bin Hammam. I also indicated that at the Miami CONCACAF Congress on May 3rd Mr. Blatter made a gift of one million USD to CONCACAF to spend as it deems fit. This annoyed President Michel Platini who was present and he approached Secretary General Jerome Valcke complaining that Mr Blatter had no permission from the Finance Committee to make this gift to which Jerome replied that he will find the money for Mr Blatter.

I also indicated at the CFU meeting held in Trinidad on May 10 which was requested by Mr. Bin Hammam, FIFA through Mr. Blatter organised gifts of laptops and projectors to all members of the Caribbean and no objections have been made today of this to date.

In my statement I attached letters from thirteen Federations whose members attended the CFU Meeting where the allegations of gifts were made.

These statements from the 13 members denied the allegations that have been made against me and any participation of these individuals in the act complained of. While with regard to the allegation of payment only one statement was submitted by Collins & Collins.

On May 18 when I realised that the political battle between Blatter and Bin Hammam was getting out of hand I wrote Secretary General Valcke telling him, among other things, that the outcome of the elections may cause some fracture in the Arab world which we can ill afford now and that I will like to ask Bin Hammam to withdraw from the race. To which Jerome replied to me and I quote :

„For MBH, I never understood why he was running. If really he thought he had a chance or just being an extreme way to express how much he does not like anymore JSB. Or he thought you can buy FIFA as they bought the WC. I have a bet since day one, he will withdraw but on June 1st after his 10 min speech. By doing so he can say he push Blatter to make new commitments bla bla bla and get out under applause. Before means he is a looser. So…He will get some votes. Less than 60 today after CAF support. It will be the „coup de grace“ if you would officially send a message as the CONCACAF President by saying CONCACAF supports unanimously. So I am not giving you an advice but just my feeling about what I think is the situation.“

Despite the plea from SG Valcke, I refused to give any advice about how CONCACAF will be voting.

At no time during this matter was I ever contacted by Mr. Blazer nor did he contact the Executive or the Emergency Committee of the CONCACAF and it is informative for one to look at Mr Blazer’s credibility by referring to the report of the NY District Court Judge in the matter between Master Card and Visa in the FIFA matter of 7th December 2006 .

(para 213) Mr. Blazer’s testimony was generally without credibility based on his attitude and demeanor on his evasive answers on cross-examination.

(para 214) Thus, for that reason and based on his evasive answers and his attitude and demeanor, Mr. Blazer’s testimony as the March 14, 2006 Marketing & TV AG Board meeting is rejected as fabricated.

The complaints made in this matter are politically motivated against Mr Bin Hammam and me and are designed, among other things, to cause serious prejudice and damage to both Mr Bin Hammam and myself at one of the most critical times for the FIFA.

It is also shocking that at the close of an inquiry at around 5:47pm when the decision was already delivered new evidence in the form of a fax from the Puerto Rico FF appears making allegations which were treated as part of the evidence in this matter. This further demonstrates in the way the enquiry was conducted and the prejudice against me.

The decision to suspend me is an abuse of the process and achieves no real purpose as stated in the decision and again demonstrates the bias of this enquiry.

I intend to say a lot more on this matter shortly.

In the meantime, I will vigorously defend my reputation as well as the reputation of the rest of the Caribbean members.

Respectfully submitted

Sgd Jack Warner

Der Jack will doch nicht wohl doch einen Tsunami auslösen, wie er versprochen hat? Ich kann es mir, ganz ehrlich, immer noch nicht vorstellen.

Sehr witzig übrigens, dass auch Jack (wie ich es gern tue) den Report des New Yorker Distriktgerichts im Visa-Mastercard-Skandal erwähnt – denn da kommen sowohl Chuck Blazer als auch Jerome Valcke verdammt schlecht weg. Lügen über Lügen.

Mohamed Bin Hammam erklärt:

Provisional ban is completely disproportionate – lack of fair play

Doha and Zurich, May 29, 2011 – Mohamed bin Hammam acknowledged the decision taken today by the FIFA Ethics Committee. However, he fails to understand how despite him not being found guilty, but yet, he has been suspended.

“I have been referred to the Ethics Committee based on evidence which was strong enough in the views of the FIFA General Secretary for such procedure. However, the Ethics Committee in it’s meeting today did not find this evidence sufficient to convict me. Consequently, I should have been given the benefit of doubt but instead, I have been banned from all football activities.”

„I have been given the impression that the Ethics Committee is absolutely an independent committee, but in the press conference we have seen today, the General Secretary made clear that he is the one who has the influence in this Committee.“

During today’s press conference, FIFA General Secretary Jérôme Valcke commented on the decision of the FIFA Ethics Committee and presented new evidence against Mr. Bin Hammam which had not been part of the proceedings so far and which nobody was able to review. He did not hesitate to predict that other parties, in the new fully-fledged investigation, will proof the guiltiness of Mr. Bin Hammam. This is contradictory to the rules of justice by an allegedly independent commission.

Mohamed Bin Hammam said: “I’m very disappointed about the way the status of the proceeding has been presented at the media conference. I am expecting that this will continue. This is not how I understand fair play. I’m reserving all my rights.”

Und weil ich die Visa-Mastercard-Sache nun schon erwähnte (wie Jack), sie ist ja auch wichtig, um das FIFA-Geschäftsgebaren zu beschreiben und Valcke als notorischen Lügner zu brandmarken – hier flink noch eine Summary reinkopiert, die ich vor einiger Zeit schon mal angeboten habe (Akute Wahrheitsallergie im FIFA-Reich des Joseph Blatter):

Valcke war damals FIFA-Marketingchef, wurde gefeuert, kam wenige Monate später als Generalsekretär wieder, und der Sepp stellte es doch tatsächlich so dar, als sei Valcke nie gefeuert worden.

Eine feine Analyse dazu gab es mal im Independent:

• Jérôme Valcke: He scored the worst-ever own goal. Now he’s running football– He lost his job in marketing at Fifa after a judge ruled he had lied over a sponsorship deal. But 10 months on, he’s the boss. David Owen hears his comeback story

Im Original liest sich das im ersten Urteil so:

• FIFA’s negotiators lied repeatedly to MasterCard, including when they assured MasterCard that, consistently with MasterCard’s first right to acquire, FIFA would not sign a deal for the post-2006 sponsorship rights with anyone else unless it could not reach agreement with MasterCard.
• FIFA’s negotiators lied to VISA when they repeatedly responded to the direct question of whether MasterCard had any incumbency rights by assuring VISA that MasterCard did not.
• FIFA’s negotiators provided VISA with blow-by-blow descriptions of the status of the FIFA-MasterCard negotiations while concealing from its long-time partner MasterCard both the fact of the FIFA-VISA negotiations as well as the status of those negotiations – an action FIFA’s president admitted would not be “fair play.”
• FIFA’s marketing director lied to both MasterCard, FIFA’s long-time partner, and to VISA, its negotiating counterparty, to both of which FIFA, under Swiss law, owed a duty of good faith. When, pursuant to his engineering, VISA raised its bid to the same level as MasterCard’s, he declined his subordinates’ suggestion to give MasterCard the opportunity to submit a higher bid based on his concern for his own reputation with the FIFA Board. He also declined his subordinates’ recommendation that he recommend to the FIFA Board that it continue with its prior approval of MasterCard as the post-2006 sponsor. Instead, he told the board it was difficult for him to make a recommendation and never mentioned MasterCard’s first right to acquire the post-2006 sponsorship.
• On the morning of the first of March 2006 FIFA board meetings and after all three FIFA boards had previously approved MasterCard as the post-2006 sponsor, FIFA’s marketing director called VISA to say that if VISA increased its cash bid by $30 million to the level of MasterCard’s bid, VISA “would be the partner.”
• Even after MasterCard had signed the “FINAL version” of the post-2006 sponsorship agreement and returned it to FIFA, FIFA’s negotiators delayed telling MasterCard that the FIFA Board had chosen VISA; instead they waited for the VISA board to ratify the VISA agreement.
• After the FIFA boards had approved MasterCard as post-2006 sponsor and after MasterCard had agreed to FIFA’s asking price and agreement had been reached on all other terms and after FIFA’s in-house counsel had solicited FIFA members for items that might be used to claim that MasterCard breached the Agreement, FIFA pointed to a trademark issue that had been present since 2000 or 2001 to justify granting the post-2006 sponsorship to VISA and sent a letter to MasterCard — after the commencement of this lawsuit — purporting to terminate the Agreement and thus MasterCard’s first right to acquire.
• After MasterCard and FIFA waived, under Swiss law, both the 90-day time periods set out in section 9.2 by their “conclusive conduct”, FIFA now seeks retroactively to revive one of the 90-day periods, but not the other, to justify its choice of VISA for the post-2006 sponsorship.
• While the FIFA witnesses at trial boldly characterized their breaches as “white lies”, “commercial lies”, “bluffs”, and, ironically, “the game”, their internal emails discuss the “different excuses to give to MasterCard as to why the deal wasn’t done with them”, “how we (as FIFA) can still be seen as having at least some business ethics” and how to “make the whole f***-up look better for FIFA.” They ultimately confessed, however, that “[I]t’s clear somebody has it in for MC.”

13.06 Uhr: Hotel-Rundreise beendet. Dolder Grand, Marriott, Savoy, Baur au Lac, Swissotel etc. Sepp getroffen (begleitet von Jerome Valcke und Ahmed Schäfer). Hand geschüttelt. Finger sind noch dran. Havelange gesehen. Platini. Grondona. Jack verpasst. Es ist ein absurder Wettlauf zwischen Hase und Igel. Die einen sind immer schon da gewesen. Vor dem Hotels bzw bei manchen in der Lobby lauern die Agentur-Journalisten. Das he-said-she-said kann man dann nachlesen.

Notiz an den Blog-Betreiber: Lern es doch endlich! Es geht nicht beides! Du kannst nicht vernünftig recherchieren und Gespräche führen – und gleichzeitig aktuell produzieren! Die richtigen Geschichten wird es so nicht geben.

Doch wer hat die schon?

Die richtigen Geschichten über die FIFA findet man auf Nummernkonten in Steuer-Oasen.

13.40 Uhr: Jetzt wird weiter produziert. 18 Uhr dann PK vom Sepp oben im Home of FIFA.

Flink noch einige Links:

• The Guardian: Digger Matt Scott beschreibt den Reformationsbedarf der FIFA an fünf Beispielen. Viel zu kurz gegriffen. Der Laden muss zerschlagen werden. Viele wichtige Dinge fehlen. Okay, ein Versuch, aber zu harmlos.
• The Telegraph: Video von Jack the Ripper: „Blatter must be stopped!“ Die Reuters-Kollegen haben mir von einem längeren Interview gestern spätabends erzählt. Das findet sich sicher irgendwo, vielleicht kann es jemand verlinken.
• Zum Kopfschütteln: Blatter macht einen wunderbaren Job, sagt Firlefranz Beckenbauer im Telegraph.
• Fanhouse: FIFA soap opera …
• Paul Kelso im Telegraph: Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke insists email suggesting Qatar bought 2022 World Cup is genuine
• Kai Pahl auf allesaussersport: Selbstzerfleischung der FIFA

13.46 Uhr: Und mal eben noch den Titel für den Beitrag ändern. Einige Vorschläge kamen per Email. Ich habe mich für den zweiten entschieden. Danke!

• Caribbean Tsunami hits Blatter
• Jack the Ripper on revenge trail
• Jack außer Kontrolle

20.19 Uhr: Ich hätte gern von dieser bizarren PK des Sepp berichtet. Leider ist mein Laptop zwei Stunden zuvor abgeschmiert. Keine Ahnung, was er hat, wahrscheinlich die Hitze. Oder ein FIFA-Hacker. Demnächst mehr.

tbc