Fifa, Sepp Blatter and Me Panorama

This is the story of the leader of world football, Sepp Blatter.

You know better than I know. You are the President

of world football. I am only a reporter.

And me, Andrew Jennings, an investigative journalist.

Blatter's Fifa ticks all the boxes defining

an organised crime syndicate. We're both getting on a bit

and we're both obsessed with Fifa. But that's where

the similarities end. No, no, I need big mutton chops.

It's different. I have got to be eccentric.

For the past 15 years, we've been on an extraordinary journey together.

President Blatter, are you a fit and proper person to

control world football? I have investigated

Fifa's dodgy decisions. Qatar.

COMMENTATOR: That is astonishing. While Sepp tried to bury

the evidence. Crisis?

What is a crisis? Why are you blocking the publication

of the investigation into Fifa? Now the net is closing in on Fifa.

They corrupted the business of worldwide soccer to serve their

interests and to enrich themselves. We put in a call to Andrew Jennings

today to get his reaction. LAUGHING.

And that's all he said. I'm leaving home in Cumbria

for one last investigation into Sepp Blatter's Fifa.

My first stop is a place I know all too well.

Zurich in Switzerland. The home

of football's governing body, Fifa. It's May of this year and Fifa

is electing a new president. Sepp Blatter has been in charge

for 17 years. He's standing again.

But I am not allowed to join the party.

So I am not allowed to walk from here to here?

I have been banned by Fifa for 12 years.

Have you seen this? It says Wilkommen Welcome.

It's not much of a welcome is it? Some people do want to hear what I

have to say. We are from Swiss television.

May I ask you just one question? All empires collapse eventually

and this empire is collapsing in front of our eyes.

Where are you going to be? You've got accreditation

to be inside? I have, I'm still in.

Two days earlier, the world watched as the FBI

arrested seven Fifa officials. They have been accused

of bribery and corruption on a breathtaking scale.

But Sepp still thinks he's the right man to run Fifa.

It's extraordinary. And it's quite clear just

by the nature of the fact that how he's tried to cling on despite all

this that it's all about him, it's all about me as far as Sepp

Blatter's concerned, not the sport. Sepp lives a charmed Fifa life:

Limos, private jets and a salary estimated

at ?7 million a year. I sat next to Mr Blatter at

lunch on my I think it was my first day in Zurich

and he said you have to understand that I am the only man in the world

who can arrive in any country with no protocol and be received

by the head of state. 01:57:38

Now that statement tells you a little bit about arrogance

but it's actually true and that the, the idea that might have gone to

his head after a couple of decades is perhaps not that surprising.

The FBI may be knocking at Fifa's door, but inside

the delegates still love him. Sepp Blatter has been

re-elected President. I thank you.

I thank you that you accepted me. That

for the next four years I will be in command of this boat called Fifa.

The people who have voted for him run football associations

around the world. You're confident in Sepp Blatter's

leadership of football? Yes.

Even though the FBI call them racketeers?

You voted for Sepp Blatter? Yes.

Certainly. Was that a good idea?

Yes. You said there is corruption.

I didn't say that. Well the FBI do.

Those who know Fifa, say there's an obvious reason why

delegates keep voting for him. They have no reason to complain.

They get money. They get jobs.

They get travels. They get dinners.

Fifa was treating them very well, especially Sepp Blatter was

treating them very well. The structure allows you to make

deals and take care of your cronies and trade in favours and it's

a really good these these congress meetings they

are lavish events and you travel there first class and it is its is

a nice club to be a part of and with Sepp Blatter at the top

you know that the fun continues. Sepp calls Fifa the family

of football. I use a different name.

The Mafia. Sepp is the Godfather. And silence is his code.

Let me just ask you, do you know which football officials took bribes

from the ISL marketing company? Sorry I don't speak about that.

Sepp Blatter's lieutenants have run football around the world.

Among them Jack Warner in the Caribbean.

Mr Warner, good morning welcome to Zurich.

He's been looting football for decades.

If I could have spit on you I would have spat on you.

But I would not dignify my spit. Why would you spit on me?

Because you are garbage. I am garbage.

Then there's Nicolas Leoz from Paraguay.

I am garbage. Then there's

Nicolas Leoz from Paraguay. He's grown rich on football bribes.

Good morning Mr Leoz. Morning.

Is Fifa going to investigate the bribes you took from the ISL

company? I don't speak English.

And there's Ricardo Teixeira in Brazil.

Or Tricky Ricky, as I like to call him.

Hello Mr Teixeira, can we talk to you please

Another Fifa boss who exploited his position to make millions.

Did you take your bribes through the Sanud company?

Mr Teixeira...oh Mr Teixeira...oh

dear. Football development grants,

TV rights, sponsorship rights, World Cup tickets

and hosting the World Cup itself. Fifa is a money making machine.

And some officials have been helping themselves for years.

They thought they were above international law, they could do

what they wanted, they were beyond the reach of the FBI, and they

have realized that they weren't. That bribery and corruption are

criminal matters and that people that have done wrong will go to

prison like common criminals. Which is what they are.

It's nice to be in London. I like to think I played my part

in helping the FBI investigation. It started with a mysterious

invitation from a spook. An intermediary who used to work

for MI6 called me and said some American gentlemen would like to

meet me here in Bruton Street. So I turned up

and here were the guys. Short hair.

Government haircuts. "Hello Mr. Jennings.

Special Agents, FBI. Organized crime."

And suddenly I've got people who carry guns agreeing with me.

I like that. It's the love hotel for spooks.

You rent rooms by the hour. Nobody knows who you are.

You meet your informant, which was me, the contact.

And business is done. And we part.

I decided I should give them a bit more help.

So I gave them the documents on Chuck Blazer.

Chuck Blazer ran football in America,

Central America and the Caribbean. He enjoyed the good life travelling

the world at football's expense. Chuck lived with his pet parrot Max

in the luxury of Trump Tower here in the Big Apple.

He lived like the elite of Manhattan.

He would eat around this neighbourhood.

He actually ate at a French restaurant on the left

and he would bring his pet macaw Max on his shoulder and he would feed

Max chicken legs sitting outside on his mobility scooter.

He never had to spend any money. It was just expensed.

And he was just a thief? Yeah apparently he was just a thief.

But Chuck's world was about to come crashing down.

I had given the FBI evidence that could put him in jail:

Details of his offshore bank accounts.

And they held millions of dollars Chuck hadn't declared to

the US taxman, the IRS. He came out

and there were agents here, and FBI agent and an IRS agent behind him.

So he turned to go to a restaurant across the street,

Uncle Jack's, and they came up behind him and they said Mr Blazer

may we have a word with you please. He stopped.

He went white. They escorted him to this atrium.

And they told him we can take you away in handcuffs

now or you can cooperate. It took him less than

an hour to decide to cooperate. Facing jail for tax evasion,

Chuck turned supergrass. He agreed to wear a wire to trap

his Fifa colleagues. The evidence he gathered ended up

in an FBI indictment. Does that warm the heart of a

prosecutor trying to build a case? It certainly does,

it certainly does. It's pretty compelling

and significant evidence. That sort of thing has an impact

on a jury. Bob Appleton knows how America's

anti-racketeering laws work. They were brought

in to fight the Mafia. Now they are being used on Fifa.

What is alleged in the indictment is a scheme that's dated back

from 24 years, which by my count includes at least 40 separate

bribery or kickback schemes. So it's clearly something that's

been quite pervasive in the organization and certainly

some very senior members of the organization are alleged to

be involved in very serious acts of bribery and racketeering.

The indictment is public. But we have found out more

about what the FBI is up to. We've got information from

inside the FBI investigation. We know who they're investigating

and what they're investigating. Six men who have sat on Fifa's

executive committee have already been indicted by the Americans.

Now I have the names of three more being investigated.

Luis Bedoya from Colombia. Marco Polo Del Nero from Brazil.

And Juan Angel Napout the boss of south American football.

The FBI is also looking at one of Sepp Blatter's pet projects,

football development grants. Here in the Cayman Islands, they have had

almost $5 million, some of it to build two football pitches. What we

are missing is somewhere for the public to sit, some shade, and we

still have about ten acres of swamp. Only one of the two football pitches

has been built. They gave $346,000 to build that second pitch, and as

you can see, it is not there. So where did the money go? This is

Jeffrey Webb. Until very recently, the boss of Cayman Islands football

and a Fifa vice president. The FBI has evidence that Webb pocketed

$74,000 of the cash. Some was spent on his home in America. They also

traced Fifa funds to an account at the bank where Mr Webb used to work.

He is alleged to have helped himself to over $300,000. Cash that should

have been spent on football. It has been a disgrace in my opinion, not

seeing that money put into proper action, proper projects, programmes

for young people. It is disappointing, to say the least.

Jeffrey Webb was hailed by Sepp Blatter as a future Fifa president.

He was supposed to be a reformer. It is time for a tidy up. Huge

difference of opinion between myself and my producer over the styling of

my hair! We will talk quietly! I have come to Washington for a very

special date. No, I need big mutton chops, I have

to look eccentric! I have been invited to give evidence

about Fifa to the US Senate. We have got a film to make. Try to

entertain the senators for a bit. The most powerful lawmakers on the

planet wants to hear my take. One has to do one's best for the Senate,

new type to match my red socks, and a speech to astound and inform.

Where can we all sit and make jokes? Before the serious stuff? I would

love a glass of water. Absolutely. On my way in, I bumped into somebody

who has already tried to clean up Fifa. Michael!

Michael Hershman used to sit on one of Fifa's reform committees.

Interesting times. It is, I am excited about the times. We are

going to clean that rats' nest out. He tells me Swiss authorities are

after President Blatter himself. Sources tell me the Swiss are going

to take him down on a statute called maladministration.

It is a big moment for me. I have been investigating Fifa for 15

years. Blatter's Fifa takes all the boxes defining organised crime

syndicate, seizing and holding power, massive stealing, running

rackets, compromising and outwitting public authorities, and hiding their

criminality behind the world's most popular game...

The senators seemed to be on my side, they understand - Fifa is like

the Mafia. Might only hesitation in using that term is that it is almost

insulting to the Mafia, because the Mafia would never have been so

blatant, overheard and arrogant. -- overt. They realise the beat of a

game has been stolen by crooks. This hearing is adjourned. Let's go and

see... I had been looking forward to the day that the Justice Department

got hold of these collars. Fifa is under pressure like never before. It

is so different to how the organisation sees itself.

This is the official version. Everything I have done up and to

this point has been for the good of football. Sepp Blatter spent Fifa

cash on this Hollywood movie. United Passions was panned by the critics.

The first World Cup will be held in Uruguay! It's tells how a

Brazilian, Joao Havelange, took control of Fifa in 1974. Our

accounts are disastrous! Havelange and a young Sepp Blatter transform

Fifa. Everything you need to run a family, but you know the slightest

error and you are out. Havelange and Blatter did transform world football

- but not in the way the movie suggests.

To understand a true story, you have to come to Rio.

It begins in a resilient samba club, like this one. -- Brazilian. One of

the greatest patrons ran illegal gambling rackets, Castor Andrade.

TRANSLATION: He was the Mafia's boss. The Mafia that ran gambling.

Any person that disturbs their business was eliminated.

Andrade and his cronies have been linked to over 50 murders. He was

also close friends with the then Fifa president, Joao Havelange.

There is a wonderful photograph of Andrade and his daughter at a

wedding, and at the top table, the banqueting table, it is straight out

of the Godfather, and on the top table you have got Andrade, the

murdering gangster, Ricardo Teixeira, the son-in-law of Joao

Havelange, so pleased to be in the company of this powerful millionaire

gangster, and then you have got Havelange. In one photograph you

bring together the murdering gangster and the president of world

football. Andrade lived in this suburb of

Rio. Havelange puts the gangster in charge of the Brazilian national

football team. When the law caught up with him, he turned to Havelange

for help. TRANSLATION: In the investigation of

the gambling rackets, Castor Andrade added a statement from Joao

Havelange saying that Castor Andrade was a respectable person and that

the criminal prosecution was unwarranted. Andrade was sent to

prison. Joao Havelange took organised crime to Fifa. And he

helped his son-in-law, Ricardo Teixeira, but come the boss of

Brazilian football. -- become. Brazil has some of the most

passionate fans in world football. And some of the most corrupt

officials. This is the passion that is being exploited.

TRANSLATION: They take advantage of that passion that people have for

football, which is an indescribable passion, and they think they are

above good and evil, above the law. Senator Gias ran an investigation

into corruption in Brazilian football 15 years ago. Sepp Blatter

did not like it. He said he would ban Brazil from the World Cup unless

the senators backed off. TRANSLATION: Evidently, he made the

threat so that people here in Brazil didn't bother to take the legal

proceedings further. He was an accomplice of the corrupt people who

embezzle funds from football here. The senators found endemic

corruption. Ricardo Teixeira was responsible. I thought I would pay

him a visit. We are from BBC Television in England, we want to

see Mr Ricardo Teixeira. The FBI also wants to ask him some

questions. Their evidence suggests he took a cut of a huge bribe. He

did not lead as in. He doesn't want to see us? Oh dear!

The indictment suggests $30 million bribe was paid to win the right to

sponsor the Brazilian national team. The money came from a sportswear

company. We know it is one of the world's most famous brands, Nike.

The indictment doesn't use the words lubricate or Greece, but it is about

an under the table payments to an intermediary of Ricardo Tisch

era's. The corrupt deal gave Nike unprecedented power over Brazilian

football. It was giving control of football to Nike in terms of games

they played, who was in the teams, it gave them a shop inside the CBS

headquarters. What annoyed Brazilians and Brazilian politicians

later, we found out, it was giving away control of their national game.

Nike has said, previously, that it has not been charged and will

co-operate with any investigation. Part of the investigation in real

has to be visiting the headquarters of the Brazilian Football

Confederation, because it has been a rest home for criminals, and that

they have got away with it because they have had control of this

fantastic asset - Brazilian football.

It is Nike, the famous Nike shot inside the Brazilian football

headquarters! Perhaps I could pop in and buy a shirt. He is saying that

you cannot go in. What is the problem? Why can't we filmed the?

The world loves Brazilian football! Eventually, they have a change of

heart. Let's follow him. They even give me a seat and an

umbrella. Obrigado. Ah, this is the new world of CBF. But they won't

give me an interview with the President of Brazilian football.

He's the third in just four years. You had Teixeira, who was cock of

the walk here for a very long time. He went. And in came Jose Maria

Marin and he was cock of the walk, until, oh, dear, he's gone. He's

sitting in a Swiss prison cell now, just like that. The current guy is

looking very nervous. Perhaps he should be. I know the FBI is after

Marco Polo Del Nero's bank accounts. Their evidence suggests he's taken

multimillion dollar bungs in exchange for TV rights in Brazil.

Where are we? We are in the Brazilian Congress. Will they let us

in, do you think? I think they will. I have been invited to give evidence

to another Senate inquiry. A lot of stairs again. This one is being run

by a footballing legend. I've got my hand on the railings. One of

Brazil's greatest ever strikers. Romario. I'm 72. Then time to do my

bit for world football again. This commission could finally do the job

that needs doing, for handing football in this country back to the

fans. We are choking with corruption around the world because Herr

Blatter let his gangsters get away with it.

There's one story that most clearly shows why Sepp is to blame. It

begins in the 1980s, back in Switzerland. And it involves the

sale of s the sale of Fifa's most lucrative asset - the TV right for

the World Cup. I've been to visit this building too many times over

the years. This used to be the headquarters of the sports marketing

company ISL. It got the valuable TV contract by paying kick-backs to

Fifa executives. I got hold of a secret list of the bribes. Sports

officials ports officials had been paid $100 million by ISL. Our

disclosure on the BBC in 2010 of documentation showing who who got

their share of the $100 million in bribes was a massive, massive

breakthrough. Joao Havelange pocketed millions of dollars in

bribes. His then son in law, Fifa executive Ricardo Teixeira, also got

a bung. So did Nicolas Leoz, but Fifa took no action. I think the ISL

scandal was a lesson that corruption is endemic in Fifa. It doesn't

matter what you do. At some stage it will be forgiven or forgotten, never

investigated, and you will be back on gravy train. Corruption at Fifa

has flourished ever since. Sepp Blatter denied knowing about the ISL

bribes. But we don't think that's true. We have seen a letter obtained

by the FBI. It is apparently signed by Sepp's old mentor, Joao

Havelange, and he put Sepp right in the frame. He says Blatter had full

knowledge of his relationship with ISL, in other words the bribes.

Havelange goes on, I emphasise that Mr Joseph Blatter had full knowledge

of all the activities described and was always apprised of them. We can

reveal that the FBI is now investigating Sepp Blatter's role in

the ISL bribes scandal. The evidence could be used to prosecute him even

though it happened years ago. They are able to loop it all the way back

to the beginning and charge that conduct as part of this racketeering

conspiracy. If it is part of the same course of conduct, the

Government is able to charge it and include it in the conspiracy. The

net is closing in. The Swiss authorities are also investigating

Fifa. Mr Attorney General, a pleasure to meet you. It's a great

pleasure to see you. Welcome to Switzerland. Thank you, I've been

here many times on the Fifa case. I want to know if he's looking at Sepp

Blatter. Is he part of your investigation? I would not exclude

that I would interview him if necessary for my investigation, as I

would not exclude anybody else who could help me for my task. Mr Lauber

tells me he is working closely with the FBI. Next day, I see just how

closely. They hold a joint press conference for us hacks. Our

investigation remains active and it is ongoing, and it has in fact

expanded since May. The scope of our investigation is not limited and we

do anticipate pursuing additional charges against individuals and

entities. Swiss TV has found someone that might help. They've got new

evidence pointing to the very top of Fifa. Last Friday Swiss television

published a contract signed by Sepp Blatter and Jack Warner about TV

right that have been sold for a price far under market value. It is

another deal involving my corrupt old friend from the Caribbean. Mr

Warner, hello again. Leave me alone. Can I ask you... Leave me alone...

Please don't do that. Jack Warner has been involved in most of Fifa's

rackets. This time lucky old Jack got the Caribbean TV rights for the

2010 and 2014 World Cups. He bbean TV rights for the 2010 and 2014

World Cups. He bought them for $600,000, selling ught them for

$600,000, selling them on for $18 million. It is the first time Sepp's

finger prints have been found on a dodgy contract. The document

produced by Swiss television at the weekend is devastating for Herr

Blatter. A document that Jack Warner's signature and his signature

has been on the screen in the newspapers. I don't think Herr

Blatter will be ever again doing a press conference before he departs

from Fifa. Fifa says that TV rights weren't sold on the cheap, because

it was also getting half of Jack Warner's profits. But we've seen no

evidence of that. Does it say that in this contract? No, it doesn't.

That's the whole point, so from that point of view, no, when you ask me

do they tell the truth about the contract, no they don't. Dominik

Schmidt negotiated TV deals for Fifa. He sold World Cups to Jack

Warner. This contract is significantly lower than the one

that we had in your contract for 2002 and 2006. This is a unique

constellation, because you know that World Cup broadcast rights have

actually surged over the past years. I think the Caribbean seems to be

the only region in the world where the World Cup has become cheaper,

which doesn't make any sense. You are saying that Jack Warner paid

less for these two World Cups than he did for previous World Cups?

Substantially. In investigating very new allegations that Fifa sold World

Cup television rights cheap to Jack Warner... We are looking into that

information very closely. These are also some of these questions which I

understand which I analyse, where I try to figure out what could be

criminal, what is not. Fifa is falling apart in front of my eyes.

Every day brings fresh revelations. There was great silence around Fifa,

because people who did business with them are frightened they might never

get business again, they get shut out, they wouldn't get contracts.

The fear isn't there now. Suddenly we are being offered information we

would never have got on the record before. Today the allegations are

about Sepp's number two, Fifa General Secretary Jerome Valcke.

He's accused of corruption at a press conference called by a World

Cup ticket dealer. We are going to change some people's lives today. I

know one guy for sure is going to change his life, and not for the

better. Benny Alon wanted to buy ticket from Fifa for the last World

Cup in Brazil. He says Jerome Valcke agreed to help him get the best

matches. Can you give me better tickets? And he said, if I give you

better tickets, what's in it for me? Benny says Fifa's General Secretary

wanted a cut of the profits. I suggested that if Jerome will let us

pick the other tickets, then we can make some profit out of the money.

And what was in it for him? He would get 50% of the profit. He was asking

you to pay him cash, not Fifa? Well, there was an e-mail from him to me

that he'll be using it as his pension fund. Jerome Valcke denies

the allegation, but the same day he is suspended by Fifa.

The biggest cash cow of all for Fifa officials is the World Cup itself.

Would you like some? It's worth billions. Nice and fresh. And

countries can only win it by persuading the men sat at Fifa's top

table to vote for them. The most corrupt vote of all took place in

this hall in 2010. Two World Cups were awarded on the same day. There

was an understanding always that it wasn't just going to be, we've got

this wonderful country that can host great sporting events. We knew that

that was never going to be enough. One man did particularly well from

the Australian bid for 2022. It's Jack Warner again. Why n bid for

2022. It's Jack Warner again. Why did Australia send $500,000 to Jack

Warner? It is a really good question. A couple of months before

the vote, someone thought it was a really good idea to pay ay Trinidad

and Tobago almost $500,000 US to upgrade a stadium in Port of Spain,

Trinidad. What we learned afterwards, of course, is not only

did Jack's family own the stadium but the money ended up in Jack's

personal bank account. Everybody was expected to get behind England's bid

for 2018. Gary Lineker, David Beckham and Prince William all tried

their best. I love football. We English love football. But I had

evidence that at least four of the men voting for corrupt. Panorama

told the world three days before the vote. It didn't go down well. Is it

frustrating that Panorama's doing this programme a few days before? Of

course it is. The England bid team called us unpatriotic. Of course I'm

disappointed with the timing, and it is certainly not going to win us any

votes. And even our Gary had a little dig. Thursday afternoon, live

from Zurich, BBC Sport at least is right behind the English bid. On the

day, we never stood a chance. England got just two votes. 2018

Fifa World Cup, ladies and gentlemen, will be organised in...

Russia. But the worst was still to come. The winner to organise the

2022 Fifa World Cup is... Qatar. COMMENTATOR: That is astonishing. A

tiny desert kingdom will host the World Cup.

The real shock was Qatar, I thought, this stinks. You felt like you

needed a shower, you knew that something untoward had gone on. Even

I didn't realise quite how bent it was. Half of the men who voted in

2010 have now been accused of corruption. If we had known what we

know now, I don't think we'd have bothered in the first place, we we

would have tried to contribute towards the Panorama programme!

Sepp Blatter might not have known they were all corrupt, but he had

proof that one was. Six months before the vote, Blatter had been

told by a Swiss court that Ricardo Teixeira had taken bribes from blood

sports marketing company, ISL. Sepp covered it up. Whatever Sepp Blatter

and new in the past, he had to know in early 2010, after the judgment

here, that Ricardo Teixeira took bribes, he was for sale, but he let

him go and a vote on what countries would get the World Cups. Again, an

extraordinary decision, you have to ask, why did he protect these

people? And not just protect them but allow them to continue to play

an active role in these important decisions? The evidence is stacking

up that Qatar bought the vote. And we now have new evidence about how

much the Qataris spent. It comes from sources close to British

intelligence. I was told by two sources that the sum that Qatar had

spent on their bid was ?117 million, and both of these authors have the

same figure. ?170 million, almost six times what England spent on

trying to get 2018. So where did all the Qatari money go? I'd just take

the straightforward view that it should be possible, when you look at

the money that people have spent, to know exactly how it was banned and

whether it was legitimate or not. -- it was spent. The problem is,

goodness knows, it is not transparent enough for anybody to

know. The world might be catching on, but

Sepp Blatter isn't. Back in Zurich, I tried to grab a word with him as

he heads for work. He did not stop. Fifa's executive committee is

meeting today. The whole gang is in town. Like Luis Bedoya of Colombia.

The Feds are after his bank accounts. Their evidence suggests he

got a bribe for a TV rights deal. Before you go, can I ask you a

question? Hello! Have you heard from the FBI yet? I gather they are very

interested in you. I don't speak English. That is good English! OK,

right. Thank you! He doesn't seem to have heard of the

FBI. But who is this? It is Geoff Thompson! Can we talk to you?

He is the former boss of England's FA and a Fifa veteran. What is going

on at Fifa? What is the English FA going to do about it? You are a very

senior member of Fifa. We are waiting to hear your voice on what

has to be done, what changes. A lot of changes. How is it going to be

done? And then he was gone. Can we talk

for one minute? Then out came the man tipped to

become the next president of Fifa. Go on, don't drive away! Do you miss

Jerome Valcke at the meetings on the hill?

Eight of your members of Fifa have gone. Are you going to reform Fifa?

Yes, of course. Thank you. The chauffeur driven limos are all

heading here, to Fifa House. Among them, another FBI suspect, Juan

Angel Napout runs Latin American football. The FBI's evidence

suggests he has also taken bungs. I am outside, as usual.

# I am just a lonely boy... # Inside, the media are waiting for

the press conference. It is becoming a bit tiresome. The

only reporter in the world excluded from Sepp Blatter's press

conferences. But today something strange is going

on. I don't know exactly what happened, I have just learnt that

the press conference is cancelled. Then we find out why. It is news I

have waited a long time to hear. What we have just been told is that

the Swiss authorities have opened a criminal investigation into

President Blatter. It is alleged that are various forms of criminal

mismanagement of Fifa funds, and in particular they are specifying his

contract with Jack Warner, giving away the TV rights for $80 million.

So a criminal investigation has been opened. I understand now why Sepp

Blatter isn't doing the press conference, what could he say?

Goodbye? And if that was not enough, we then

hear that Blatter's air apparent is also under suspicion. Michel Platini

has been questioned over a payment of ?1.3 million authorised by Sepp

Blatter. When I talked to Michel Platini, he was in a very happy

mood, he stopped to talk to me, and my last question was, are you going

to reform Fifa? He said, of course, so maybe he didn't know that, hiding

in the bushes, the Swiss police and the Swiss prosecutor were here. His

payment was for work supposedly carried out after 2002, but he

wasn't paid until 2011. All very odd! The Platini allegations are

incredibly serious, no-one could understand how you could receive

?1.3 million of money for a contract you completed nine years previously,

and a payment was made before a presidential election where Sepp

Blatter was a candidate. Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini denied

doing anything wrong, but they both are suspended for 90 days. The

presidential race is descending into farce.

Days later in London, I went to see another contender, South Korean

billionaire Chung Mong-joon. Fifa has become a badge of shame, I will

turn it back into a badge of pride. He is already under investigation by

Fifa's ethics committee, facing suspension. He says he has been

framed. They are not only sabotaging my candidacy, they are sabotaging

Fifa's election and Fifa itself. I also ask him about a donation he

made to the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Maybe he can

explain why he sent it to Jack Warner's Football Confederation,

Concacaf. You spent $500,000, I believe, to Haiti, to try to ease

the terrible pain, but you sent the money to Jack Warner, to Concacaf.

You must have known that he would steal any money inside. You can say

whatever it you want about Jack Warner, but I made it very clear, I

made it very clear that the money was for the victims of the Haiti

refugees. I did my best. And then if the money was not utilised for the

refugees, it is a big gap's problem. -- Concacaf. The following

day Chung is suspended from football for six years. The remaining

presidential candidates are all Fifa insiders. Are you saying Fifa cannot

be reformed? It absolutely cannot reform itself, it has failed to lead

to reform itself. -- it has failed utterly to reform itself. Look at

the man who was holding the reins until a new president is elected,

Issa Hayatou. He has got all the qualifications for the job - we have

already exposed him for taking bribes. I would like to ask you

about monies, the books show that you received money from ISL. Fifa

deny it. The organisation has a problem which is at the heart of its

culture, and none of these people can run it. The system is broken.

Sepp Blatter declined to respond to our questions, as did most of his

officials. Jack Warner told us he rejected all of our allegations and

is fighting extradition to the US. But he has already been banned from

the game for life. Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini could also be banned

by Christmas. Last Thursday, the FBI announced more charges. That we say

that the betrayal of trust that is set for the here is truly

outrageous. Jeffrey Webb and Luis Bedoya have now pleaded guilty to

racketeering. The other two Fifa bosses I was tipped off about were

indicted. So was Ricardo Teixeira. 39 Fifa officials and associates

have now been charged with corruption. It makes me feel

nauseous at the levels of corruption in a sport that has been a huge part

of my life and is a huge part of many people's lives right around the

world. Like the dying days of some corrupt Soviet republic, where

people are desperately trying to hang onto power to protect

themselves. Will it collapse? I think the Fifa republic is on the

brink of collapse now. Football fans can only hope the Feds can finish

the job. Could the FBI be the best thing to ever happen to football? I

think that might be true, not the best thing that ever happened to

Fifa, but the best thing that ever happened to football.

One way or another, Sepp Blatter will finally be taking a rest from

football. Either in retirement or in prison.

After 15 years of chasing him, it is time for me to put my feet up too.

Well, for a couple of hours, at least. I told you he was a crook!