Blatter: Fifa to re-examine bribes inquiry

Friday, 21st October 2011 at 17:09pm

Fifa President Sepp Blatter has asked an external ethics committee to investigate the collapse of former marketing partner International Sport and Leisure (ISL).

Documents which relate to the case in question are thought to contain evidence that high-ranking Fifa officials received kickbacks which in turn would guarantee World Cup sponsorship and TV rights in the 1990s.

"This is an issue which has been raised by the national associations and members," said Blatter.

"The executive committee has decided that this case should be opened.

"If there are any measures to be taken they will not be taken by the executive committee - it is not the body that can take sanctions or release anyone

"So we will give this file to an independent organisation outside of Fifa so they can delve into this file and extract its conclusions and present them to us."

Fifa's much maligned Executive Committee (ExCo) will convene in December to go through documents that relate to ISL.

Journalists have repeatedly attempted to have the documents released only to be thwarted by football's governing body.

In 2010, a total of 3.9 million was paid out by lawyers acting on behalf of Fifa and its high-ranking members in order to keep their identities secret and resolve the case.

In his press conference Blatter also announced that Fifa's ethics committees would undergo a dramatic revamp, plus three new "task forces" and a good governance committee would be established to push reforms through.

The 75-year-old Swiss was re-elected for a fourth term as Fifa supremo in June and promised a more transparent governing body after a number of its members were exposed for corruption.

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