Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sepp Blatter yesterday gave a commitment to disclose court papers that give details of alleged bribes paid to Fifa officials as he unveiled his long-awaited reforms that are designed to clean up world football's troubled governing body within two years.
Fifa had previously paid £3.9m to a Swiss court to settle the case of ISL, the marketing company linked to Fifa that collapsed with huge debts in 2001, and seal the files. A court document is said to disclose detail of alleged bribes paid to Fifa officials, including Nicolas Leoz, a current member of the Executive Committee. A BBC Panorama programme last year also alleged Ricardo Teixeira, another ExCo member and the man in charge of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, his father-in-law Joao Havelange, and a third current ExCo member, Issa Hayatou, all accepted bribes from ISL. Leoz, Havelange, Hayatou and Teixeira deny the allegations.
The 41-page document will be handed to an independent panel that will then report to the ExCo's next meeting in Tokyo in December whether any sanctions are required. After that the document will be made public. A Fifa official said yesterday it would be in the public domain "within months not years." "It is a very complicated case that has very important legal repercussions," said Blatter, who said the decision was reached without dissent. Blatter also drew attention to the fact that any names that could be revealed are "not Swiss people, only foreign people."
Blatter laid out what he called "a bit of a Formula One" road map to reform that is scheduled to end at the Fifa Congress in Mauritius in 2013. A Good Governance Committee (GGC) – labelled a "watchdog" by Blatter – will be created to which four task forces will report over the next two years.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments