THIS is very alarming. In recent months, there have been documented reports of corruption in the international sports scene. While these stories are not exactly new, as allegations of such kind had also been made in other high-profile international sports organizations such as the International Olympic Committee in the past, recent developments show that corruption in sports may be more rampant and committed at a larger scale.
In late May this year, justice officials from the United States and police officers from Switzerland conducted separate investigations into various reports of corruption by former and current top officials of the International Football Federation (FIFA) in awarding hosting rights to the World Cup competitions in 2010 to South Africa and those of the forthcoming 2018 and 2022 editions in Russia and Qatar, respectively.
Seven senior football officials, including two FIFA vice presidents, were arrested by Swiss police at a luxurious Zurich hotel (the headquarters of the world’s multi-billion dollar football-governing body are located in Switzerland) and indicted for bribery, racketeering, money laundering and massive corruption in the marketing of television deals and the awarding of the World Cup hosting rights to South Africa, Russia and Qatar.
They were among the 14 people from the FIFA and sports marketing firms accused by American authorities of accepting more than $150 million in bribes and kickbacks.
According to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FIFA and marketing officials – 14 indicted and four who made guilty pleas – had “corrupted the business of worldwide soccer to serve their interests and to enrich themselves.”
The U.S. investigation said South African officials paid $10 million in bribes to host the 2010 World Cup.
Since the FIFA corruption scandal broke out, even the integrity of the International Basketball Federation, the world’s governing body for basketball, has been put to question with allegations of bribery and corruption, that is if according to a June 26, 2015 Reuters report out of Beijing, People’s Republic of China is to be believed.
Here under is the Reuters report by Michael Martina and Ben Blanchard in full: The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) will discuss China’s investigation of a deputy sports minister who sits on its Board, but has had no official communication from China on the matter.
The ruling Communist Party’s anti-graft watchdog said that Xiao Tian, who also sits on China’s Olympic committee, is being investigated for suspected “serious breaches of discipline and the law,” using a term often employed to denote corruption.
Xiao was elected vice president of FIBA last year though as the next Board meeting of basketball’s world governing body is not until August (where the 2019 FIBA World Cup hosting rights being contested by the People’s Republic of China and the Philippines will be determined) in (Tokyo) Japan, he has not had an active role to date, the body said in an e-mailed statement to Reuters.
“This investigation appears to be part of the on-going national anti-corruption campaign in that country,”’ FIBA said.
“FIBA is waiting to receive official communication with more details from the Chinese Basketball Association and has not been contacted by the Chinese authorities,”’ it added.
The FIBA Executive Committee will discuss next week further developments in this matter in line with the FIBA General Statutes and Internal Regulations.
It has not been possible to reach Xiao for comment. China’s sports bodies are in the international spotlight at the moment with Beijing competing with Almaty in Kazakhstan to host the Winter Olympic Games in 2022.
A decision is due in late July. China, which is aggressively seeking to stamp out graft in Party and government ranks, has also sought to eject corrupt elements from its sports establishment, especially within soccer, which has been hit by match-fixing scandals.
President Xi Jinping, an avowed soccer fan like hundreds of millions of his compatriots, has bemoaned corruption of the game in China as a national embarrassment.
Xi has led a sweeping campaign to root out corruption since assuming power in late 2012, vowing to go after powerful ‘tigers’ as well as lowly ‘flies.’
The bottom line: Corruption has no place in sports, let alone in any decent society here and elsewhere.
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