By FRANK JORDANS, Associated Press Writer
Jul 2, 1:47 pm EDT
Buzz Up PrintZUG, Switzerland (AP)—A Swiss court ruled Wednesday that FIFA failed to properly oversee marketing payments worth hundreds of millions of dollars in a case that revealed how sports officials received large sums for arranging sponsorship and broadcast deals.
The three-judge panel said FIFA was aware of the financial difficulties of its now defunct marketing partner, ISL/ISMM, months before the company went bankrupt in 2001. FIFA did not carry out checks of the “special account” it had access to, the panel said.
Soccer’s governing body was ordered to pay about $116,000 in costs for lodging the criminal complaint that sparked the fraud inquiry.
FIFA’s claim that it was caught unaware by the sudden lack of funds in the account ISL/ISMM used to receive payments from rights sales was not credible because it had insight into the account at all times, the judges said.
FIFA said in a statement that it “has taken note of the verdict” but declined to comment further.
The finding was one of a series handed down in a decision involving six former executives of ISL/ISMM, FIFA’s marketing partner for almost two decades. The six were cleared of most of the fraud charges resulting from the company’s collapse. But the court found Jean-Marie Weber, a longtime friend of FIFA president Sepp Blatter, guilty of embezzlement.
The court said Weber transferred $52,000 to his personal account and that it considers his refusal to explain the payment as damaging to his case. Weber’s lawyer, Marc Engler, said his client likely would appeal the conviction on procedural grounds.
“Our client doesn’t have to prove his innocence by declaring the reason for the payment. He has to be assumed innocent,” Engler said.
The judges also found Hans-Juerg Schmid and Hans-Peter Weber—unrelated to Jean-Marie Weber—guilty of deviously obtaining false documents in multiple cases. The two men set up sham companies with the sole aim of diverting funds from the ailing ISMM parent company, which collapsed in May 2001 leaving debts estimated at $300 million.
Among those named in court documents as recipients of payments was the head of South America’s soccer federation, Nicolas Leoz, a 79-year-old lawyer from Paraguay. He was sent two payments in 2000 totaling $130,000, the documents said. Leoz has not been accused of acting illegally and has denied any connection with the marketing company.
The judges said there was no evidence the payments had been bribes, but that they were clearly linked to the sale of marketing and television rights for major sports events.
The six defendants are being awarded compensation ranging from $16,700 to $186,000, less court costs. Such compensation payments—often paid by the government or another party making accusations—frequently are ordered in Switzerland when defendants are acquitted.
Lead prosecutor Marc von Dach said he would consider appealing Wednesday’s verdict.
Prosecutors left open whether a second trial may be opened into whether any FIFA officials received illegal payments from ISL/ISMM.
