ESPN Network:
ESPN.com
ESPN Deportes
Fantasy Games
|
|
|
| Thursday, April 18, 2002 18:44 EST |
Zen-Ruffinen launches legal action against CONCACAF
[Reuters]
PARIS -- One of the most remarkable days
in FIFA's 98-year history ended in spectacular fashion on
Thursday when general secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen launched
legal action against CONCACAF president Jack Warner and his
general secretary Chuck Blazer for defamation of character.
The move is unprecedented in the annals of world soccer's
governing body and was just one of four astonishing developments
as the crisis at the heart of FIFA deepened.
Zen-Ruffinen's action came on the same day that Issa Hayatou
of Cameroon presented his election manifesto, kicking off his
campaign to wrest the FIFA presidency from beleaguered Sepp
Blatter in Seoul at next month's Congress.
In the day's third development Hayatou and UEFA president
Lennart Johansson both called on Blatter to open an
investigation into allegations that a vote cast for Haiti at the
1998 FIFA presidential election was fraudulent.
Hayatou also launched an attack on Jerome Champagne,
Blatter's presidential advisor, accusing him of interfering in
the work of some confederations and undermining officials in
their jobs.
Then Zen-Ruffinen, in the most candid interview he has given
in his four years in his post, accused Blatter of effectively
"gagging him" by suspending the work of the internal audit
committee set up to examine the state of FIFA's finances because
he had "delicate information" he could have given the committee.
But this civil war is really still only in its opening
stages.
More revelations are likely to be made in the next few days
as CONCACAF -- FIFA's fourth largest confederation representing
35 countries in north and central America and the Caribbean --
holds its Congress in Miami on Saturday and European governing
body UEFA holds its Congress in Stockholm next week.
One significant stage of the conflict could now be played
out in the courts after Zen-Ruffinen confirmed in a statement
issued by FIFA's communications division that he had instructed
a firm of New York lawyers to open proceedings against CONCACAF.
Zen-Ruffinen had threatened to take action against Warner
and Blazer unless comments which had appeared on the
confederation's website were retracted.
The comments had suggested that Zen-Ruffinen had asked
Warner and Blazer to support Hayatou against Blatter in the FIFA
presidential elections that will take place in Seoul on May 29
-- two days before the World Cup finals open.
Zen-Ruffinen had told CONCACAF that it had until midnight
on Monday April 15 to retract the comments, but the federation
took no action before the deadline.
The FIFA statement also said that Zen-Ruffinen had no option
but to miss this weekend's CONCACAF Congress in Miami, where
Warner will stand unopposed for re-election as president.
Both Warner and Blazer are members of FIFA's highest
rule-making body, the 24-man executive committee, while Warner
is also a FIFA vice-president.
Their comments came in the context of a row over an
allegation that Zen-Ruffinen had interfered in a CONCACAF
matter.
Warner is currently unopposed in the CONCACAF election on
Saturday because he and Blazer refused to allow Mexico's Dr.
Edgardo Codesal to stand, saying he was ineligible because he
was a paid employee of the confederation.
Zen-Ruffinen said that FIFA's Bureau of Legal Matters should
review the exclusion of Codesal.
Blazer replied with a strong statement saying Zen-Ruffinen
had exceeded the powers of his position and should resign or be
suspended by Blatter.
The row also has implications for the FIFA presidential race
because Warner and Blazer are staunch allies of Blatter, who has
become estranged from Zen-Ruffinen despite their once-close
working relationship.
A huge gulf now exists between them and it would seem
inconceivable that Zen-Ruffinen will hold his position after the
May 29 vote if Blatter is re-elected president.
Indeed Blatter may attempt to remove him from office before
then, although under the FIFA constitution Zen-Ruffinen is
answerable to the executive committee and not Blatter.
The internal crisis at FIFA erupted while Blatter was on an
electioneering tour of 10 African countries last week.
It continued to develop on Thursday when Zen-Ruffinen was
quoted by Le Temps newspaper in Switzerland saying he had been
prevented from giving evidence about various "disfunctions" in
FIFA's administration to the suspended audit committee.
Blatter had halted the investigation, instigated to study
the effects of the collapse of FIFA's long-term marketing
partners ISL-ISMM, because, he said, of alleged breaches of
confidentiality.
The suspension was executed by Blatter just before the
committee was due to question FIFA's finance director Urs Linzi.
"I think that these manoeuvres were also aimed at stopping
me giving evidence because I could reveal some delicate
details," Zen-Ruffinen told Le Temps.
"The statutes state that all decisions in this area should
be controlled by my department.
"However, I know that several had been taken without
consulting me. It is clear that the rules were not followed,
either by the president himself, or by the director of
finances."
Blatter, meanwhile, said he had been hurt by the manner of
UEFA president Johansson's "U-turn" over his bid for re-election
as FIFA president.
Blatter had been counting on the support of Johansson as he
bids to win a second term in office, but Johansson -- who lost
out to Blatter four years ago -- is now backing Hayatou.
"At the end of last year, (Johansson) disclosed that he was
in support of my candidature," Blatter told CNN in an interview
screened this week.
"He had written to me twice, saying 'you can sleep, there is
no problem, you will be the only candidate'.
"But all of a sudden he changed his mind ... he did not warn
me ... I would have expected from him in a fair contest to phone
and say 'I'm changing my mind, for (certain) reasons I would
prefer to have another candidate'."
Meanwhile, Johansson and Hayatou called on Blatter to
investigate claims made by the London Daily Mail that Haiti's
vote at the 1998 presidential election was cast for Blatter by a
late stand-in after the eligible official was prevented from
leaving the Caribbean island when his passport was confiscated.
Blatter beat Johansson by a large margin of 111-80 votes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
