Sport Industry Group

Former FIFA president in bribery case- 12 Jul 2012 00:00:00

Former FIFA president João Havelange received millions of dollars in kickbacks from FIFA’s former marketing partner, after being named in a Swiss court dossier – published by FIFA – which had previously been kept secret.

Havelange and his former son-in-law, Ricardo Teixeira, were both confirmed as having received the bribes from the collapsed marketing company ISL.

The pair, who had fought for years to preserve their anonymity, were named in the report, which stated that Teixeira received at least £8.4m between 1992 and 1997 from ISL and that Havelange received around £986,000.

Payments attributed to accounts connected to the two Brazilians totalled almost £14.4m from 1992 to 2000.

In November 2010, the BBC's Panorama programme alleged that three senior FIFA officials took bribes from ISL in the 1990s.

A statement issued by the BBC, one of five media organizations to see the papers, said: ‘A year long legal battle by BBC Panorama to force publication of documents related to a confidential police investigation into bribery and corruption at Fifa was vindicated today.’

‘In Panorama - FIFA's Dirty Secrets in November 2010, reporter Andrew Jennings named the two officials as recipients of bribes from the Swiss ISL sports marketing company, which was repeatedly given lucrative World Cup marketing rights by FIFA.’

The documents concerning Havelange also revealed that officials repaid £3.6m to end the prosecution office's investigation on condition their identities remain secret.

Havelange and Teixeira were the only two FIFA officials named in the report.

Havelange, now 96, was FIFA president for 24 years before being succeeded by Blatter in 1998, but remains FIFA’s honorary president.

The Brazilian also resigned his 48 year International Olympic Committee membership in December, citing health issues.