FIFA under scrutiny from anti-corruption body

Anne Brasseur heads a working group examining good governance of sports organisations SRF

The Council of Europe has launched an investigation into major sports organisations, including the Swiss-based football world governing body, FIFA.

Anne Brasseur, former president of the parliamentary assembly of the Council, told Swiss public television SRF that her working group would examine if FIFA adhered to the good governance rules.

She is likely to meet top officials of FIFA within the next several months.

Brasseur criticised the slow reform process, saying the new FIFA management under Gianni Infantino has made little effort to overhaul the scandal-ridden football body.

She said the FIFA ethics committee had been virtually deprived of its power and whistleblowers risked losing their jobs.

“This does not help to rebuild credibility,” she said.

She also accused Infantino of authoritarian behaviour in a dispute with the ethics committee over high salary and bonus payments.

The move prompted the former head of FIFA’s audit and compliance committee to resign with immediate effect.

Corruption

FIFA’s secretary general, Fatma Samoura, dismissed the allegations but invited Brasseur for a visit to the FIFA headquarters, according to the report.

The Council of Europe, as the continent’s leading human rights organisation, comprises 47 member nations.

Founded to help rebuild Europe after the Second World War, the international organisation aims to promote peace through human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

Over the past few years, the FIFA leadership has been linked with corruption, bribery and vote rigging, prompting numerous arrests and criminal investigations in Switzerland and the United States.

Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter was forced to step down in 2015 because of the scandal.