Fifa president Sepp Blatter says he wants to set up an anti-corruption committee to police world football’s governing body.
\nThe move comes after allegations of corruption dogged Fifa throughout the bidding process and voting for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
\nBlatter said: “This committee will strengthen our credibility and give us a new image in terms of transparency.
\n“I will take care of it personally, to ensure there is no corruption at Fifa.”
\nBlatter told Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung the committee would consist of seven to nine members “not only from sport but from politics, finance, business and culture”.
\nAnd the Swiss confirmed he would not sit on the committee himself as he wanted to guarantee its independence.
\nThe move to set up an anti-corruption unit will raise questions about the future of Fifa’s ethics committee, which investigated claims of corruption last year.
\nFollowing the investigation, Fifa’s executive committee members Amos Adamu and Reynald Temarii were suspended over allegations they offered to sell their votes during bidding for the World Cup, something the pair vehemently denied.
\nThey both subsequently missed December’s ballot in which Russia was chosen to host the 2018 tournament and Qatar the 2022 event, following a secret vote by the remaining 22 committee members.
\nDuring the bidding process for the World Cups, Fifa was also forced to investigate rumours of collusion between member associations and their bid committees in relation to the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process.
\nAt that time, Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke warned all countries that mutual voting deals were against Fifa rules.
\nThe 2018 Spain-Portugal and 2022 Qatar bids were cleared of collusion in the investigation.
\nA BBC Panorama programme broadcast three days before the World Cup vote alleged three Fifa officials, Nicolas Leoz, Issa Hayatou and Ricardo Teixeira, took bribes in the 1990s.
\nDenying any wrongdoing, vice-president Hayatou has threatened to sue while Leoz and Teixeira are said to have also denied wrongdoing.
\nFifa said at the time the case was “definitely closed” as allegations had already been investigated in Switzerland, with no Fifa officials being convicted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fifa president Sepp Blatter says he wants to set up an anti-corruption committee to police world football’s governing body. The move comes after allegations of corruption dogged Fifa throughout the bidding process and voting for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Blatter said: “This committee will strengthen our credibility and give us a new image […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-272671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n