Pauline Jacot 11:38 a.m., December 07, 2021, modified at 11:48 a.m., December 07, 2021
One of the key men in the Fifagate affair will know the verdict of his trial on Tuesday.
The opportunity for our journalist Pauline Jacot to return to a case that has shaken the authorities of world football: Fifagate.
A mixture of corruption, fraud and embezzlement ...
It is this Tuesday that one of the key men in the so-called Fifagate affair will know the verdict of his trial.
This man is Jeffrey Webb, the former vice-president of the executive committee of Fifa.
He was on trial for corruption in New York in the scandal that hit the institution six years ago.
A sprawling affair that begins with a spectacular takeover.
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Arrest of Jeffrey Webb
It is May 27, 2015. The scene takes place at 6 am. Swiss police officers arrive in the lobby of a luxury palace in central Zurich. They come to arrest FIFA officials who are staying here in Switzerland, a few days before the election of their new president. That morning, fourteen members were arrested. Among them: Jeffrey Webb. Face hidden by white sheets, Webb and the other Fifa officials are escorted to the police vehicle.
"They are accused of having received tens of hundreds of bribes, several tens, several millions of dollars. A system of retrocommissions on TV rights has also been put in place. The American Minister of Justice denounces the Cup of world in South Africa in 2010. Its attribution was totally corrupted ", explains journalist François Clauss.
In the sights of justice: the 2010 World Cup, but also that of 2018 in Russia and the one to come in Qatar.
in 2022.
A mole in FIFA
Swiss justice and American justice have been investigating for months. Money laundering, racketeering, corruption: this is the first time that Fifa has been judicially attacked. The FBI had a mole in the institution for years. His identity is revealed. The man is a corrupt Fifa executive who made a deal with the police. This is Chuck Blazer. He's a double agent. Equipped with a hidden micro keychain, at the London Olympics in 2012, he has a series of meetings with several officials of world football. It was these recorded conversations that led to the May 27, 2015 in Zurich phone call.
These arrests come two days before the election of the president of Fifa, a position which has been occupied for 17 years by a man: Sepp Blatter.
Even if he is not directly implicated at that time, the scandal obviously affects the person of Sepp Blatter, his aura, his omnipotence.
Faced with the accusations, his ally, Michel Platini, president of UEFA, distances himself.
"Disgusted and disgusted," he said: "I said to him: 'Look Sepp, today I come to ask you to leave Fifa, to resign from Fifa, to leave Fifa because the image is bad. We can no longer continue like this ".
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Sepp Blatter and Platini accused of fraud
Between the two men, it is the rupture.
For years, they blame each other.
Today, they are both prosecuted on suspicion of fraud.
In 2015, Sepp Blatter was re-elected for the fifth time at the head of Fifa.
But five days later, he made a decision to everyone's surprise.
"This mandate does not have the support of the entire football world and by that I mean supporters, players, clubs. This is why I will hand over my mandate at an extraordinary elective congress" , he says.
From that moment, the revelations will follow one another from week to week.
The press reveals the extent of Fifa's fraudulent practices, bribes, attempts to buy votes.
Today, the American justice condemned several leaders for acts of embezzlement.
No condemnation concerning the attribution of the World Cup to Qatar has yet been pronounced, even if, according to American justice, there has been corruption on this issue.
Investigations are still ongoing in Switzerland and France.