Corruption watchdog splits with Fifa

Friday, 2nd December 2011 at 08:41am

Transparency International, a company that was advising Fifa - football's governing body - after 12 months of scandal, suspensions, bribery and accusations has severed all ties with the Zurich-based global organization.

An official for the corruption watchdog said that two of its main recommendations had been ignored by Fifa.

Fifa is currently paying an expert to oversee major reforms to how it is run but Transparency International believes that would jeopardize the expert's independence.

Mark Pieth, the expert in question, also said he would not reinvestigate any old scandals involving Fifa and Fifa members, which was another recommendation by the watchdog.

The cutting of ties by Transparency International is a yet another blow for Fifa and its credibility as it seeks to reform following a humiliating past year.

Fifa's bid to clean up its act is being led by four-term president Sepp Blatter, who pledged to clean up his organization as one of his election pledges.

Transparency International's sports adviser Sylvia Schenk insisted that Mr Pieth could not possibly be independent of Fifa if he was being paid by them.

"We believe that someone paid by Fifa cannot be a member of the independent commission [overseeing reforms]," Ms Schenk told the Press Association Sport news agency.

"He has a contract with Fifa so he is not independent in that sense."

Mr Pieth argued that what he was doing was common practice.

"We can't start asking audit firms to do their job for free just to make sure they are independent," he told the Bloomberg news website.

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