FIFA arrests: top officials arrested on charges of wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering

[Father Jack]

How is 2006 not in there? Have they just taken that as given?

 

[rumply]

Qatar - population 300,000 Qataris + 2,000,000 foreign nationals.

This Foreign Correspondent episode that was shown last night shows exactly why people went into overdrive to find out if there was corruption related to how the bloody hell Qatar got the World Cup after the technical committee didnt rate its bid. Its why FIFA insiders leaked to the The Sunday Times and Andrew Jennings. At a Qatar v Yemen game 50 Qataris turned up to watch plus a few hundred guest workers and a hundred or so Yemen fans.m

Watch either at the embedded video on this link or the iview one below.
http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2015/s4247392.htm
Reporter Eric Campbell has been in Qatar to witness how this Middle East emirate - the world's richest country per capita - is spending some of the $260 billion it's showering on new stadiums, hotels and infrastructure.He discovered that the people doing the hard work - migrant labourers mostly from South Asia - endure wretched living and working conditions.

(They) live in squalor... They're owned by another individual, lock, stock and barrel - that's slavery. SHARAN BURROW, head of the International Trade Union Confederation. Australian Sharan Burrow, former ACTU chief, takes Campbell on a tour of a hostel of Nepalese workers, living 12 to a room, who endure filthy kitchens, washing and toilet facilities and work six days a week for up to 12 hours a day with no paid overtime.

They just bring you back when they decide you've finished. NEPALESE WORKER

Qatar has a system called Kafala which means foreign workers surrender their passports to the employer who decides where they work and even whether they can even leave Qatar. In response to international pressure, including from FIFA, Qatar is promising to reform the Kafala system.
http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2015/s4247392.htm
or

http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/foreign-correspondent/NC1502H007S00#playing

Watched this episode the other night, certainly worth a look, how pathetic a display was that stadium site the film crew were taken to where every employee was covered hear to toe in safety gear.

With so much work already underway, it is hard to see how the WC will be taken off Qatar & just imagine the fallout for all those workers if one day the poor pricks wakeup & all worksites have been shutdown...

 

[rumply]

How is 2006 not in there? Have they just taken that as given?

& 2014...I guess Germany & Brazil earned the cup on merit

 

[SM]

Warner has caved.

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

How is 2006 not in there? Have they just taken that as given?

& 2014...I guess Germany & Brazil earned the cup on merit

And 2002... I think Brazil were the only country to bid for last year's as Colombia withdrew.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Warner has caved.

And said what? Links?

 

[SM]

 

[Cruyff14]

This is bloody fantastic. Seeing Blatter die a slow a death would be brilliant.

 

[Satan]

 

[Dan Cooper]

Pick the odd man out...

...so far.

 

[CountryRace]

Pick the odd man out...

...so far.

 

[CountryRace]

give us the world cup you arsehole suckdogs

 

[ozasismick]

Knowing that Blatter has referenced the good ship FIFA which he had to steer back on course in his earlier acceptance speech when re-elected, I can't help but think the ship now being abandoned, floating somewhere in the Caribbean. The rats remain, they're eating their own.

 

[Admiral Byng]

The tournament will be transferred to the USA on dual grounds, they were runner-up and they don't need to build any stadiums as American Football stadiums are all over 50,000, dimensions correspond very well to Football, they will be sitting idle in June and July, with transport and accommodation infrastructure already in place.

Staggering to think about the estimated $260 billion that Qatar are spending on building stuff for it. It would be a huge waste if they were suddenly stripped of it and the tournament went somewhere else. A whole nation of white elephant projects of roads, rail, hotels, cities and stadiums, that never get used for the intended purpose, and probably left half-finished. It would be staggering.

 

[SM]

Wasn't a huge part of Qatar's bid the fact that the stadia are all temporary and that after the tournament they'd be stripped down and the resources donated to poorer nations? So really the building of the stadia is irrelevant to whether they should continue to host it.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Wasn't a huge part of Qatar's bid the fact that the stadia are all temporary and that after the tournament they'd be stripped down and the resources donated to poorer nations? So really the building of the stadia is irrelevant to whether they should continue to host it.

Yep they will donate several to African nations, not sure how many as they are now lobbying to only have to build 8 not the 12 that were in the bid - and when you only have 300,000 people and the rest are basically poor foreign workers, and on a good day 50 locals turn up to watch the national team, there is no real need for them.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Jack Warner wanted to be PM of Trinadad and Tobago. The video of his speech over night is at the following link.
http://deadspin.com/indicted-official-on-national-tv-broadcast-fifa-funded-1708869893

Former FIFA official Jack Warner bought airtime on some of Trinidad’s biggest TV networks in primetime tonight to air his own “The Gloves Are Off” political message, claiming he had proof FIFA money influenced the 2010 Trinidad & Tobago national election.

That election brought the People’s Parnership coalition to power in that country, and earned Warner a senior position in the federal government. The U.S. indictment alleges Warner accepted a $10 million bribe in 2008 to vote for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup.
http://deadspin.com/indicted-official-on-national-tv-broadcast-fifa-funded-1708869893

 

[JD-Roo]

Would the Australian Bid Committee be nervous if Warner is the first one to start spilling his guts?

 

[Father Jack]

Staggering to think about the estimated $260 billion that Qatar are spending on building stuff for it. It would be a huge waste if they were suddenly stripped of it and the tournament went somewhere else. A whole nation of white elephant projects of roads, rail, hotels, cities and stadiums, that never get used for the intended purpose, and probably left half-finished. It would be staggering.

Well, when you've got all of the money and nothing to spend it on then these things happen. I doubt they'd even notice.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

This Guardian Live blog on Warner has plenty more stuff.

http://www.theguardian.com/football...n-i-have-kept-quiet-i-will-do-so-no-more-live

 

[Admiral Byng]

Wasn't a huge part of Qatar's bid the fact that the stadia are all temporary and that after the tournament they'd be stripped down and the resources donated to poorer nations? So really the building of the stadia is irrelevant to whether they should continue to host it.

Watching that ABC report the other day, seems like the stadiums are only part of the story. Lots of money is going on freeways and public transport, hotels, airports and the like to cope with the expected influx of tourists. Those things can't be packed up and donated to poor African nations.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Watching that ABC report the other day, seems like the stadiums are only part of the story. Lots of money is going on freeways and public transport, hotels, airports and the like to cope with the expected influx of tourists. Those things can't be packed up and donated to poor African nations.

Yes that's where most of the that $260bil going. That can all be stopped and either cancelled or delayed - look at East West link in Melbourne after Labor won the election last week.

 

[SM]

Well then sucks to be Qatar. Really have no sympathy.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I think the reason it took so long is that the Americans have a long and learned history of using these charges against mafia dons - I'd say the 'Teflon' Don Gambino trials before they finally got him mean that they investigate and compile so thoroughly that they build the prison around the target, and only charge them once all the walls are complete.

As for anyone else, well, nobody wanted to get it wrong and be responsible for their nation being expelled from FIFA did they? That's the sort of populist stuff that kills banks and topples governments.

Journos have one track mind. Cops have more than one case on at a time. The whole criminal justice system is about delays. But when the wheel finally turns it turns quickly and heavily.

 

[Hamingja]

Amazing how greedy people can be. If they stuck to taking bribes from countries that could legitimately host the event they would still be getting away with it.