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Tag: Jerome Valcke

  • Blatter, two others face FIFA probe over salaries

    Blatter, two others face FIFA probe over salaries

    Former FIFA president, Sepp Blatter and ex-secretary general, Jerome Valcke, already banned from football for ethics violations, are facing a fresh investigation, this time over the salaries and bonuses they received in office.

    FIFA’s ethics committee said its investigators had opened formal proceedings against both men, along with former finance director Markus Kattner, for possible ethics violations which included “bribery and corruption.”

    The suspected violations were “in the context of salaries and bonuses paid to Mr. Blatter, Mr. Valcke and Mr. Kattner as well as other provisions included in the contracts of these three individuals,” the committee said.

    They are also suspected of having breached rules on general conduct, loyalty, conflicts of interest and “offering and accepting gifts and other benefits.”

    Reuters said Blatter, Valcke and Kattner could not immediately be reached for comment.

    They have previously denied wrongdoing.

    Blatter has said his earnings were in line with top officials from professional sports leagues around the world.

    Soccer’s global governing body is attempting to recover from the worst graft scandal in its history which has seen 42 people, including former FIFA executive committee members, indicted in the United States since May last year.

    Criminal investigations are also under way in Switzerland, where FIFA has its headquarters.

     

  • Valcke’s ban reduced to 10 years

    Valcke’s ban reduced to 10 years

    FIFA said it has reduced the bans imposed on two senior officials, including a former Secretary-General,  barred from participating in football-related activities following a corruption investigation.

    Former secretary-general Jerome Valcke was handed a 12-year ban, while another official, Chung Mong-joon, was given a six-year ban in a corruption scandal at the heart of FIFA.

    The scandal led to indictment of several senior FIFA officials, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    Valcke, who was right-hand man to ex- FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, was found guilty of several misconducts.

    They included misconduct over sale of World Cup tickets, abuse of travel expenses, attempting to sell TV rights below their market value and destruction of evidence.

    He and Chung, a former FIFA vice-president, were excluded from football after they were found guilty of breaching FIFA code of conduct.

    FIFA’s Appeal Committee on Tuesday mainly confirmed the decisions taken by the body’s Ethics Committee but said it had cut Valcke’s ban from 12 to 10 years because of “mitigating factors.”

    It said the ethics committee’s adjudicatory chamber had not sufficiently considered mitigating factors when assessing the Frenchman’s attempt to grant TV and media rights in the Caribbean

  • Ex- FIFA officials ‘awarded themselves £55m’

    Ex- FIFA officials ‘awarded themselves £55m’

    Former high-ranking FIFA officials – Sepp Blatter, Jerome Valcke and Markus Kattner awarded themselves pay rises and bonuses worth $80m (£55m) over five years, lawyers to the soccer governing body have said.

    FIFA revealed the contracts of ex-president Blatter, fired ex-secretary general Valcke and sacked former finance director Kattner one day after a Swiss police raid, the BBC reports.

    Its lawyers said there was evidence that the trio made “a coordinated effort” to “enrich themselves” between 2011 and 2015.

    Documents and electronic data were seized during Thursday’s operation, which relates to investigations into Blatter and Valcke.

    Suspected of criminal mismanagement of FIFA’s money, Blatter and Valcke were banned for six and 12 years respectively by the governing body’s ethics committee in February.

    Both denied wrongdoing.

    A statement for the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG), which carried out the investigations, read: “Documents and electronic data were seized and will now be examined to determine their relevance to the ongoing proceedings.”

    FIFA said the evidence uncovered by its own internal investigation would be shared with the Swiss Attorney General’s office and the United States Department of Justice.

     

  • FIFA sacks Jerome Valcke

    World football’s governing body FIFA has dismissed secretary general Jerome Valcke.

    The Frenchman, 55, was banned from football for his alleged involvement in a scheme to profit from the sale of World Cup tickets, the BBC reports.

    He was provisionally suspended on September 17 after being accused of a series of FIFA ethics code breaches.

    Appointed in 2007, the former right-hand man of FIFA president Sepp Blatter has denied any wrongdoing.

    “The duties of the secretary general will continue to be assumed by the acting secretary general, Dr Markus Kattner,” FIFA said in a statement.

    FIFA’s ethics committee said on January 7 that it had decided to open “formal adjudicatory proceedings” against Valcke after studying a report submitted by its investigatory chamber.

    Valcke has also been accused of being party to a potential $10m (£6.8m) bribe paid to Jack Warner, the former head of the North and Central America football governing body CONCACAF, in return for his vote and backing to South Africa’s successful bid to host the 2010 World Cup.

    FIFA’s ethics committee has already recommended that Valcke should be banned from all footballing activities for nine years.

  • FIFA suspends Jerome Valcke

    FIFA suspends Jerome Valcke

    FIFA secretary general, Jerome Valcke, has been suspended indefinitely.

    A statement from football‘s world governing body said it had “been made aware of a series of allegations involving the secretary general.”

    Newspaper allegations on Thursday implicated Valcke, 54, in a scheme to sell World Cup tickets for above face value.

    The Frenchman, who has held his role at FIFA since 2007, said he denied the “fabricated and outrageous” allegations, the BBC reports.

    FIFA has been engulfed by claims of widespread corruption since May, when Swiss police raided a hotel in Zurich and arrested seven of its top executives.

    United States officials have since indicted those seven and two other officials on bribery and racketeering charges.

    President Sepp Blatter announced that he would stand down just days after winning re-election in June.

    Valcke, who last month was considering standing to be the new president, is Blatter’s number two at the organisation but now faces a formal investigation by the FIFA ethics committee.

    Earlier on Thursday Eugenio Figueredo, one of the seven officials arrested in May, had his extradition to the U.S approved.

    As well as the U.S inquiry, a Swiss investigation is looking into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

    FIFA has recently set up a task force to tackle corruption which aims to “restore the integrity and reputation” of the organisation.

  • Blatter aide linked to bribery payments

    Blatter aide linked to bribery payments

    United States’ prosecutors believe FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s top lieutenant made $10 million in bank transactions that are central to the bribery investigation of the world soccer body, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.

    Jerome Valcke, FIFA’s secretary general, is described in an indictment filed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, as an unidentified “high-ranking FIFA official” who in 2008 transferred the sum to another FIFA official, Jack Warner.

    Valcke is not named as a defendant and has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

    He was not immediately available for comment, Reuters says.

    A spokeswoman for FIFA said the $10 million in bank transactions were authorized by the then-FIFA Finance Committee chairman. The Finance Committee chairman was Julio Grondona, who died last year.

    Valcke and Blatter are the top two officials within FIFA.

    Valcke’s connection to the case was first reported by The New York Times.

     

  • Curitiba stadium fit to host Iran vs Nigeria —FIFA

    Curitiba stadium fit to host Iran vs Nigeria —FIFA

    Curitiba’s Arena da Baixada has been given the green light to host Nigeria’s Super Eagles’ 2014 World Cup opening game against Iran on June 16.

    The Arena da Baixada retained its hosting rights for this summer’s World Cup despite facing a race against time to be ready for its first game.

    The venue, which is due to stage four group matches, has run into a series of delays due to various construction issues during its renovation, including a lengthy enforced stoppage after an investigation in October 2013 into serious safety breaches.

    However, after a detailed inspection of the site, FIFA has decided not to move the games to alternative venues, deciding that the Curitiba team had done enough to warrant the world governing body’s faith in the project.

    “It’s a race against a very tight deadline. Collective effort by all the stakeholders involved in Curitiba must continue at highest pace,” tweeted FIFA general-secretary Jerome Valcke, announcing the decision.

    He added that the continuation with the project was “based on the financial guarantees, the commitment by all stakeholders and progress made.”

  • Doubts persist over Eagles World Cup stadium

    Doubts persist over Eagles World Cup stadium

    Cuiaba Stadium, which will stage Super Eagles June 21 World Cup clash against Bosnia-Herzegovina, is one of six World Cup arenas still to be completed as organisers race to get the playing surface and seating completed.

    The 42, 000 capacity Cuiaba ground, which should have been completed by the December 31 deadline will host its first game of the tournament on June 14 when Australia face Chile, MTNFootball.com reports.

    It is due to host two other first-round matches – Russia v South Korea on June 17 and the June 24 clash between Japan and Colombia.

    “It is necessary to wait for the second half of February for it to be tested,” said the Mato Grosso region’s secretary of state, Mauricio Guimaraes.

    “Of course, we would have liked to have finished before December 31 (the original completion date laid down by world governing body FIFA), but this delay will have no impact on the World Cup.

    “As for the work to be done in the city, our objective is to be ready in June for our first match in the World Cup and the work on the airport will be finished in mid-April.”

    Earlier this month, FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke revealed that there were “some questions” over Cuiaba.

    Compared to Natal and Manaus, grounds that have confirmed their inaugurations with tests in January, Cuiaba appears behind schedule.

    Seats in the ground are not yet installed while the pitch, according to an AFP reporter, looks more like an unploughed field rather than a football pitch.

    “It will take 60 days for the pitch to be ready,” admitted the stadium’s chief engineer, Joao Paulo Curvo.

    Apart from Cuiaba, two other grounds are causing headaches for FIFA and local organisers.

     

  • Sao Paulo World Cup venue to miss FIFA deadline

    Sao Paulo World Cup venue to miss FIFA deadline

    The building firm responsible for Sao Paulo’s new World Cup stadium has admitted that the venue would not be ready until March, next year.

    This is more than two months after the deadline set by the world football’s governing body FIFA.

    Frederico Barbosa, chief engineer for construction company Odebrecht, said a contractual obligation to fit the stadium with 48,000 permanent seats would be met by December 31.

    But the installation of temporary stands that increase the venue’s capacity to 68,000 is expected to take at least another two months.

    “We have to finish construction of the roof and this prevents us from starting work on the temporary stands,” Barbosa said.

    “We can try to bring this forward but it still won’t be finished until after (the deadline). It will take another two or three months.”

    Known in Brazil as the “Itaquerao”, the stadium’s redevelopment is the least advanced of any of the 12 World Cup venues.

    Odebrecht is still awaiting a promised $200 million (about N314 million) loan from state-run banks and has threatened to stop work if an imminent deal is not struck.

    It is not just Sao Paulo’s World Cup stadium that has caused concern for FIFA.

    Each of Brazil’s six venues for June’s Confederations Cup – considered an organisational warm-up for the World Cup – long overshot their original deadlines of December 2012.

    Brasilia’s Estadio Nacional was yet to be reopened despite being scheduled to host the Confederations Cup opener between Brazil and Japan on June 15.

    Last week FIFA Secretary General, Jerome Valcke reiterated delays would no longer be tolerated.

    “I repeat again: the completion of work at the remaining World Cup stadiums has a strict deadline, which is December 2013,” he said.