Fifa ethics team continues to probe FAI payment

FIFA’s independent Ethics Committee is continuing to study the secret €5m agreement between FIFA and the FAI, and could yet open a formal investigation into the affair.

Details of the January 2010 deal, reached after Ireland’s controversial World Cup play-off defeat by France two months earlier, were published in full in June this year.

The independent Ethics Committee, which recently imposed provisional 90-day bans on FIFA president Sepp Blatter, vice-president Michel Platini and general-secretary Jérôme Valcke, is currently examining documents relating to the confidential agreement.

These are believed to include the statement posted by the FAI on its website on June 6 detailing the “exact timelines” around the €5m payment, and revealing that a further $400,000 was paid for “FAI Regional Centres”.

Andreas Bantel, the spokesman of the Investigatory Chamber of the independent Ethics Committee of FIFA, told the Irish Examiner yesterday:“It is a fundamental part of our work to carefully analyse any facts on the table, be this media reports, information from whistle-blowers or any results of pre-investigations. If this analysis leads to an initial suspect, the Investigatory Chamber of the Ethics Committee will open a formal investigation into the respective matter.”

While the Ethics Committee never states in advance whether a formal investigation is about to begin, the fact that its study of the €5m deal is now into a second week suggests the matter is being taken seriously. Any such investigation would centre on alleged breaches of the FIFA Code of Ethics by representatives of football’s world governing body.

The FAI has declined to comment on the continuing probe, or to respond to other questions about the financial agreement with FIFA.

If a formal investigation is launched, FAI Chief Executive John Delaney is likely to be called as a witness, having co-signed the agreement document with Valcke and FIFA then-deputy Secretary General Markus Kattner, who is currently acting as Secretary General during Valcke’s suspension.

FIFA’s independent Ethics Committee consists of two chambers. The Investigatory Chamber is chaired by Cornel Borbely, a Swiss barrister specialising in economic crime investigation.

Its five members include the Chief Justice of the Guam Supreme Court, Robert Torres, who is currently investigating Blatter for FIFA’s payment of 2m Swiss francs to Platini in February 2011.

The Adjucatory Chamber, which imposes penalties on FIFA representatives found guilty of breaching the Code of Ethics, is chaired by Hans-Joachim Eckert, a presiding judge of the Munich Penal Court that deals with corruption, tax fraud and economic crime.

Formal investigation proceedings are currently in progress in relation to at least nine FIFA representatives. Proceedings regarding two other officials – Spanish football supremo Ángel María Villar Llona and German legend Franz Beckanbauer – have already been passed on to the Adjucatory Chamber.