Al Arabiya News, Staff writer, Sunday, 22 June 2014
Members on FIFA’s Executive Committee have secretly doubled their pay after newly imposed ethics rules banned their fat six-digit World Cup bonuses, The Sunday Times revealed this week.
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| FIFA President Sepp Blatter at a news conference after the Executive Committee meeting at the Home of FIFA in Zurich. (File photo: Reuters) |
Members on FIFA’s Executive Committee have secretly doubled their pay after newly imposed ethics rules banned their fat six-digit World Cup bonuses, The Sunday Times revealed this week.
Secret
documents leaked to the newspaper showed that the 25 powerful members on the
Executive Committee of football's top governing body saw their $100,000 salary
double this year, and the money was paid to Swiss banks controlled by the
organization, allowing the top members to withdraw the amounts in cash, and
dodge taxes, added the British newspaper.
In
addition, the executives enjoyed a VIP treatment of free Business Class air
travel, five-star hotel stays, and luxury meals - all to complement their high
end social status.
Undercover
FIFA had
pledged this year to scrap its practice of awarding its executives bonuses
ranging from $75,000 to $200,000 during World Cup years, as a new audit
signaled unethical behavior in the practice.
But with
the announcement, the Zurich-based organization failed to mention the 100% pay
raise it agreed with its committee members as remuneration.
A current
member reportedly confirmed the raise last week to The Sunday Times. “It has
been doubled to take account of the dropping of the bonus,” the unnamed alleged
member was quoted as saying.
Bribery and
corruption
FIFA
recently came under fire over a controversy that had allegedly “proven” bribery
allegations surrounding Qatar’s winning bid to host the World Cup 2022.
Qatar
allegedly paid $5 million to help raise its chances in winning the bid, The
Sunday Times also revealed earlier this month.
The new
outlet claimed it had obtained a “bombshell” cache of millions of leaked emails
and documents, relating to payments made by Mohammad Bin Hammam, Qatar’s former
top football official, who was an executive member of FIFA at the time.
The Qatar
World Cup organizing committee denied all the allegations, however the
revelations could see the tournament be withdrawn from the Gulf state.
James
Dorsey, author of a blog and related book entitled The Turbulent World of
Middle East Soccer, told Al Arabiya News earlier this month that the potential
fall-out of The Sunday Times revelations could be massive.
“A possible
retraction of Qatar’s right to host the 2022 World Cup,” he said, adding: “But
we’ve got a fair way to go in legal terms before we see any legal action which
could see a withdrawal of the hosting rights and a re-running of the bid.”
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The
boardroom of Fifa’s headquarters in Zurich (The Sunday Times)
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