Hours after his deputy, Jerome Valcke, was indicted by Federal authorities, Sepp Blatter says he will resign as president of football’s governing body Fifa amid a corruption scandal. In announcing his exit, the 79-year-old Swiss has called an extraordinary Fifa congress “as soon as possible” to elect a new president.
Blatter was re-elected last week, despite seven top Fifa officials being arrested two days before the vote as part of a US prosecution.
But he said: “My mandate does not appear to be supported by everybody.”
Fifa was rocked last week by the arrests on charges of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering as part of a US prosecution that also indicted 14 people.
A separate criminal investigation into how the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were allocated is also under way.
“I am very much linked to Fifa and its interests. Those interests are dear to me and this is why I am taking this decision,” added Blatter.
“What counts most to me is the institute of Fifa and football around the world.”
Earlier United States Federal authorities believe that Sepp Blatter’s top lieutenant at FIFA made $10 million in bank transactions that are central elements of the bribery scandal engulfing international soccer, United States officials and others briefed on the case said Monday. The revelation puts the money trail closer to Mr. Blatter, FIFA’s president, than had been previously known, reports The New York Times.
Jérôme Valcke, the soccer organization’s secretary general, is the unidentified “high-ranking FIFA official” who prosecutors say transferred $10 million in 2008 from FIFA to accounts controlled by another soccer official, Jack Warner, the officials said. The payment is a key piece of last week’s indictment accusing Mr. Warner of taking a bribe in exchange for helping South Africa secure the right to host the 2010 World Cup.
The indictment does not say that the high-ranking official knew that the money was being used as a bribe and, unlike many other FIFA officials and marketing executives, Mr. Valcke is not identified as a co-conspirator in the document. Danny Jordaan, the chief executive of South Africa’s World Cup bid and the current president of its soccer federation, has said the money was not a bribe but a legitimate payment into a soccer development fund in the Caribbean.
Valcke, formerly FIFA’s marketing director, was named secretary general, the organization’s No. 2 position, in 2007. Credit Alessandro Della Bella/Getty Images
Mr. Valcke, who said in a brief email that he had not authorized the payment and did not have the power to do so, has not been charged or accused of wrongdoing.
Mr. Valcke and Mr. Blatter are the two top officials in FIFA, an organization that has more than $1 billion in the bank and generates billions more each year. Mr. Valcke’s involvement is sure to raise more questions about what Mr. Blatter knew about the money transfer. The officials and others who identified Mr. Valcke spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.
