FIFA completes internal corruption investigation News
FIFA completes internal corruption investigation

FIFA [official website] announced Friday it has completed its internal investigation [press release] regarding allegations of criminal misconduct, bribery, and corruption in world football. The investigation began after the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) [official website] and US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] announced they began investigations into the issues back 2015. FIFA conducted a 22-month investigation compiling more than 2.5 million documents and interviewing numerous witness, which they reported to the OAG and plan to give to the DOJ. According to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, “FIFA committed to conducting a thorough and comprehensive investigation of the facts so we could hold wrongdoers within football accountable and cooperate with the authorities.” FIFA states that due to its finding it has made specific changes to their governance, compliance, and finance functions. FIFA plans to issue a detailed report of its findings in April.

FIFA has struggled with corruption chrages. In May 2015, US prosecutors charged fourteen top FIFA officials [JURIST report] with offenses including racketeering, money laundering, and bribery. Prosecutors alleged these officials used partnerships with sports marketing executives to solicit more than $150 million in bribes and kickbacks to support various FIFA events. In July, US asked Switzerland to extradite seven FIFA officials [JURIST report] connected to the May corruption charges. In April Amnesty International claimed migrant workers preparing [JURIST report] for the 2022 World Cup in Doha, Qatar, are facing systematic abuses. In January 2017, the Commercial Court of Zurich rejected a lawsuit by labor unions over picking Qatar as the 2022 World Cup host [official website].

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