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Roundup: FIFA investigation raises questions at European Parliament

Xinhua, June 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

While dual Swiss and U.S. investigations targeting FIFA continue to shake the world of football, the European Parliament on Thursday expressed zero tolerance against corruption.

Following numerous accusations against highly placed officials in FIFA and the resignation of its president Joseph "Sepp" Blatter, members of European Parliament (MEPs) demanded in a resolution that Blatter be replaced by an interim president.

During debates organized before the vote, many MEPs could not help asking why this campaign didn't happen sooner.

The EU's involvement, however, appears to be late, and several MEPs asked why Europe had waited so long to act.

"Why did the United States have to come and clean up our mess?" asked Dutch MEP Sophia In 't Veld (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe).

"We knew it before. Why did we as the European Union not react before? Why did member states not act against corruption in their own sports organizations?" demanded EP Vice-President Ulrike Lunacek (Austria, European Greens).

Some MEPs went as far as suggesting that FIFA be dissolved altogether.

French MEP Steeve Briois (Non-attached, Front National), urged members to shift attention to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Procedures used by U.S. and Swiss justice systems confirm the idea commonly held that "corruption within FIFA is rampant, systemic and deep-rooted," MEPs said.

U.S. officials have said the FBI investigation in the context of a broader U.S. campaign against corruption.

The Swiss banking sector, in particular, has been under intense scrutiny by U.S. regulators for aiding in tax evasion and money laundering schemes.

The U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday two resolutions reached with Societe Generale Private Banking and Berner Kantonalbank AG, for fines worth 17.80 million U.S. dollars and 4.61 million U.S. dollars respectively.

Since the arrest of nine FIFA officials in Zurich last month, the U.S. Justice Department has drawn up indictments accusing the officials of wire transfer fraud, money laundering, and other corruption allegations.

FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke announced Wednesday that bidding for the 2026 World Cup has been postponed, and was originally scheduled to be awarded in 2017. The same day it was also announced that Swiss officials have seized data and IT equipment from FIFA offices.

The Swiss attorney general has launched an investigation simultaneous to that of their American counterparts, looking into possible corruption in the bidding processes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively.

In April, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) passed a resolution that called on FIFA to reform its governance, starting with re-running the 2022 World Cup bid process, after an investigation that found Qatar's selection to be "fundamentally undermined by illegality." Endit