More corruption at the top; Spain/Uefa/FIFA

[Spursex]

Fifa’s No 2 arrested in corruption probe
Martyn Ziegler, Chief Sports Reporter

July 18 2017, 12:00pm, The Times
Villar is the head of the Spanish FA and second in command at football’s world governing body
Villar is the head of the Spanish FA and second in command at football’s world governing body

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Fifa’s corruption scandal has burst back into life after the second most powerful man in world football was arrested by Spanish police as part of an anti-corruption investigation.

Angel Maria Villar Llona, the long-serving head of the Spanish football federation (RFEF), is the senior vice-president of both Fifa and Uefa. He and his son Gorka and three other officials were arrested by Spanish police while raids were carried out at the RFEF’s headquarters.

In Spain the laws are enforced, the laws are the same for all, and nobody, nobody is above the lawÍñigo Méndez de Vigo, Spain’s minister of education, culture and sport

Reports in El Pais, the Spanish daily, said the arrests follow suspicions that Villar Llona oversaw the awarding of lucrative contracts to firms connected to his son, including for image rights and TV rights for Spain’s national team. Investigators from the Guardia Civil are reported to have tapped the phones of those under suspicion.

Villar Llona, 67, has been head of the Spanish FA for the last 29 years and reports in Spain say the police investigation also covers the alleged use of RFEF money to generate support for his position in office. He has been a Fifa Council member since 1998 and was reprimanded by Fifa’s ethics committee for his aggressive and unhelpful reaction to investigator Michael Garcia’s probe into World Cup bidding.

His son Gorka Villar is also under investigation by legal authorities in Uruguay for his activities as director-general of the South American football confederation Conmebol, which he resigned from in July 2016. Three Conmebol presidents whom Gorka Villar worked under have been indicted by the US department of justice following FBI investigations into football-related corruption.

Spanish police said the other three men who were arrested were Juan Padron, the federation vice president of economic affairs, and the president and the secretary of the regional federation for Tenerife.

Spain’s political and financial crimes court said it is directing the probe into allegations of “collusion, fraud, embezzlement and presumed forgery”.

Spain’s minister of education, culture and sport, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, told national television moments after the raids that “in Spain the laws are enforced, the laws are the same for all, and nobody, nobody is above the law”.

Uefa said it “is aware of the reports regarding Mr Villar Llona. We have no comment to make at this time.”

Villar has overseen the Spanish national team’s victories in the 2010 World Cup and the 2008 and 2012 European Championships. He has also been at the heart of international football politics and was acting Uefa president after Michel Platini’s suspension.

As a player he was renowned as a tough midfielder for Athletic Bilbao and Spain before retiring to work as a lawyer and administrator. He has been an influential figure in the legal and referees committees of both Uefa and Fifa.

Before joining Conmenbol, Gorka Villar was a prominent sports lawyer in Madrid. He helped represent cyclist Alberto Contador in a failed appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport against losing the 2010 Tour de France title after a positive doping test.

 

[freundorfoe]

burn it to the ground and start over...

 

[Departed]

freundorfoe - 25/7/2017 16:11

burn it to the ground and start over...

Completely agree with this. Throw all the assets into a trust administered by an independent body and keep them there for 10 years allowing the trust to cover legitimate expenses of the new organization.

 

[Spursex]

80deg16minW - 25/7/2017 16:15

freundorfoe - 25/7/2017 16:11

burn it to the ground and start over...

Completely agree with this. Throw all the assets into a trust administered by an independent body and keep them there for 10 years allowing the trust to cover legitimate expenses of the new organization.

Our only hope is that is what the FBi/the Swiss authorities will eventually force to happen.

 

[Spursex]

Fifa and Uefa accused of being ‘enablers’ of tax evasion in football by MEPs
• European Parliament commission criticises Barcelona over Messi campaign
• Desire to evade tax described as an ‘epidemic’ by Football Leaks journalist
Fifa
Fifa has been accused of displaying ‘a magnificent example of double talk’ over its unwillingness to take action over dubious tax practices. Photograph: Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters


Ed Aarons
@ed_aarons

Wednesday 27 September 2017 15.32 BST
Last modified on Wednesday 27 September 2017 18.41 BST

Members of a European Parliament inquiry have accused Fifa and Uefa officials of being “enablers” of a corrupt system that permits players and agents to avoid paying tax, with Barcelona’s social media campaign after Lionel Messi’s conviction for tax fraud described by one MEP as “immoral”.

Part of the European Parliament’s committee of inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (Pana), the hearing has been prompted by some of the accusations detailed by the website Football Leaks, which has alleged that various players and managers have hidden tens of millions of euros in tax havens around the world.

The first hearing took place in Brussels on Tuesday with representatives of both the world and European football governing bodies in attendance. They were questioned by a series of MEPs, with a particular focus on Messi’s conviction for evading more than €4m in tax over his image rights by using shell companies in Belize and Uruguay.

Last July, the Argentina forward and his father Jorge were sentenced to 21 months in prison after being found guilty, with Barcelona subsequently launching a social media campaign with the hashtag #WeAreAllLeoMessi.

“Messi was guilty and he was sanctioned,” said Belgium’s Louis Michel. “This campaign is immoral and contradicts the values promoted by Fifa.”

The German MEP Jeppe Kofod also questioned Kimberly Morris, who is Fifa’s head of global transfers and compliance. “You are for fair play,” he said. “Shouldn’t you also be for fair taxes?”

In response Morris said: “It’s a matter for national legislation. Our competencies are limited. We do what is in our power to investigate the sports aspects.”

The Pana committee chairman, Werner Langer, described the answers as “not completely satisfactory”, with Michel accusing the Fifa official of displaying “a magnificent example of double talk”. He said: “These people are totally against the values you say you defend.”

The panel also heard from Merijn Rengers, a journalist for the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, which is one of the publications in the media consortium which published the findings of financial wrongdoing via the Football Leaks website. Rengers said the desire to evade tax was “epidemic” in the industry, with some of the biggest clubs, agents and players particularly culpable.

“Everybody is using tax advisors to evade tax,” he said, while also raising concerns over the lack of transparency in third-party ownership. “We believe tax evasion is a clear threat to the social values of football and to the regulatory framework and to the integrity of the broader game. Having said that, it’s up to the regulatory authorities.”

But Gregor Reiter of the European Football Agents Association admitted that sanctions have been hard to implement due to different rules being adopted around the continent.

“The federation sees the legislation for players’ agents solely as a framework that member states must adapt,” he said. “That leads to diverging rules depending on the country, which makes it very difficult to take legal action against bad practices.”

The investigation will submit its final report before the end of this year.