The directors of corporate sponsors of the Fraud in Football Association (FIFA) must be feeling so proud in doing nothing other than issuing hollow statements drafted by their politically correct compliance departments and checked by their lawyers.
That pride comes from keeping Sepp Blatter in power. Sepp Blatter is the role model for not only all corrupt and morally bankrupt people in the world today but also those who have failed year in year out to stand up to corruption.
The sponsors’ lawyers were so downtrodden that they didn’t even insist on the inclusion of standard boiler plated “morality clauses” found in almost all sponsorship deals nowadays despite all the brouhaha over FIFA going back years. Thus sponsors can’t even terminate their sponsorships for ethical or moral reasons if they wanted to.
Much of FIFA’s income comes from TV rights paid by TV companies that are also doing nothing in response to the ongoing revelations of fraud, bribery, corruption and racketeering which they are funding via FIFA. Indeed, it’s the same TV companies (and media outlets) which delight in broadcasting every indecent twist and turn Sepp Blatter makes on their 24 hour news channels seemingly oblivious to the fact that they are mocking themselves for financing the corruption in FIFA.
We live in an increasingly corrupt world and too many of the world’s citizens simply accept that and “do” nothing about it as evidenced by the anonymous voting in Zurich today. Sepp Blatter is living proof that corruption can carry on unchecked in any organisation.
Let’s hope all those guilty of crimes associated with FIFA are swiftly brought to face justice or FIFA will just carry on as usual headed up by the world’s worst role model. The USA’s Department of Justice and the FBI deserve credit for leading the charge; the rest of the world should follow in their footsteps where legitimate to do so but only after those who did nothing hold an inquiry as to why they hadn’t pursued the obvious criminal activities ab initio.
In the meantime we offer our congratulations (or expected condolences) to the members of FIFA’s Audit and Compliance Committee and their Ethics Committee who are not yet behind bars. It is of note that many of them represent member states comfortably in the bottom half of Transparency International’s more recent Corruption Perceptions Indices. Also, let us not forget FIFA’s external auditors, KPMG, for the outstanding role they have played over the years.
On Sepp Blatter’s planet, everyone who complies deserves a proverbial pat on the back … or at least an expensive wristwatch every now and again.
This article was first published on 29th May 2015.
