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 "Sen. Moran's office reached out to FIFA to explore the possibility
of having Mr. Blatter testify but the organization declined," said
Garrette Turner, spokesman for Senator Jerry Moran, the Republican
chairman of the consumer protection subcommittee, which is holding
the hearing.
FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment and
Blatter's legal representative in the U.S. declined to comment.
Blatter said last week in an interview with German newspaper Welt am
Sonntag that he "won't take any travel risks until everything has
been cleared up".
The 79-year-old Swiss national did not attend the final of FIFA's
Women's World Cup in Vancouver earlier this month but says he
intends to be in Russia in late July for the draw for qualifying
games for the 2018 World Cup.
Also missing from the hearing will be U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF)
top elected official, President Sunil Gulati, who is a member of
FIFA's executive committee representing the North America region. He
has been USSF president since 2006.
The USSF will be represented instead by CEO and Secretary General
Dan Flynn.
Senator Moran's office said that Flynn was "the highest ranking
official U.S. Soccer was willing to send" to testify at the hearing.
The USSF did not respond to a question from Reuters about why Flynn
and not Gulati was appearing.
The three other witnesses are Michael Hershman, a private
investigator who served on FIFA's independent governance committee
from 2011 to 2013, Sunjeev Bery, an official of Amnesty
International, and Andrew Jennings, a British investigative
journalist who led efforts to expose corruption in FIFA.
Senators will ask what if anything, current American soccer
executives knew about alleged corruption in the sport's governing
bodies, congressional aides said.
Former U.S. soccer official Chuck Blazer, who was a FIFA executive
committee member for 17 years, has been at the center of the
corruption scandal. He has pleaded guilty to a series of offences
related to bribery and is cooperating with authorities.
SPONSORS' ROLE
The subcommittee will also explore what role and responsibilities
corporate sponsors do and should play in the governance of the
world's most popular sport, the aides said.
[to top of second column] |
In late May, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York indicted nine
soccer officials, most of whom held FIFA positions or had previously
held such positions, and five sports media and promotions executives
in schemes involving $150 million in bribes over a period of 24
years. Prosecutors said their investigation exposed complex money
laundering schemes, millions of dollars in untaxed income and tens
of millions of dollars in offshore accounts held by the soccer
officials.
The indictment included reference to an unnamed sportswear company
that has been widely identified as Oregon-based Nike Inc <NKE.N>.
The indictment references payments made in "marketing fees" to the
Brazilian national soccer federation, that were not in the company's
initial contract.
Nike said there is no allegation in the indictment that it engaged
in criminal conduct.
Congressional aides said senators are likely to ask witnesses
detailed questions about what U.S. soccer officials knew about the
kind of corruption and dysfunction inside FIFA and its regional
affiliates. In particular, they will want to know what the officials
did or did not do about it, and what they plan to do to clean up the
sport, the aides said.
In a statement last week, Moran said: "This hearing on the recent
FIFA scandals will begin the discussion about our country's own
participation in the organization, ways the United States and our
allies can work to reform FIFA, and how we can restore integrity to
the game so many Americans and citizens of the world enjoy."
Congressional aides said that senators will question witnesses as to
whether they think major U.S. corporations should play a larger role
in ensuring that FIFA and other soccer organizations look after the
human rights concerns of workers involved in major FIFA projects,
such as the construction of stadiums for the 2022 World Cup
competition in Qatar.
(Reporting By Simon Evans in Miami and Mark Hosenball in Washington;
Editing by Martin Howell)
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