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Blatter accused of making secret agreement on TV rights

30 January 2012

Jérôme Valcke. Photo: Fotos Gov/Ba Flickr

A leaked hand-written letter aledgedly penned by FIFA general secretary Jérôme Valcke to former vice-president Jack Warner suggests that Valcke and president Blatter secretly bypassed FIFA’s Executive Committee when awarding Warner the World Cup television rights for the Caribbean.

The letter was revealed exclusively by British investigative journalist Andrew Jennings, who argues that it “strengthens concerns that Blatter runs FIFA as his personal fiefdom, dispensing valuable contracts to keep his supporters loyal, with the acquiescence of chief executive Valcke.”

The letter reads ‘Here is the agreement signed by the P. This deal has not been through all normal boards or comm. Hence so I'm asking to make no publicity on it for the time being. Kind regards, Jérôme.’

According to Jennings, ‘P’ refers to President Blatter and the undated letter seems to refer to rights for 2010 and 2014 in the Caribbean region. Warner, reportedly, re-sold them for around $20 million.

FIFA has not denied the legitimacy of the letter, but told Jennings that that the letter “seems to be authentic, but we cannot confirm that.”

SOURCE: Andrew Jennings’ website transparencyinsport.org

Read Jennings’ full article and see a copy of the letter here

More Information

www.transparencyinsport.org/When_Blatter_gave_Warner_secret_TV_rights/when_blatter_gave_warner_secret_tv_rights.html

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