Two FIFA vice presidents, 12 others charged in US probe

May 28, 2015

Fifa officials

New York, May 28: The US Justice Department has charged 14 individuals - including two current FIFA vice presidents and seven other world football officials - with offences including racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies.

It also said in a release that the 47-count indictment, unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, is "not the final chapter" in the wide-ranging and ongoing investigation, reports Efe.

The announcement by Attorney General Loretta Lynch, accompanied at a press conference in New York by FBI director James Comey, came on the same day that Swiss authorities arrested seven of the 14 defendants charged in the indictment.

"They used their positions of trust within their respective organizations to solicit bribes from sports marketers in exchange for the commercial rights to their soccer tournaments," Lynch said.

Despite the insistence of reporters, however, she refused to discuss possible measures against FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who was not among those indicted and is expected to win re-election for a fifth term on Friday.

The defendants include FIFA vice presidents Uruguayan Eugenio Figueredo and Caymanian Jeffrey Webb, who is also president of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean association football, known as CONCACAF - as well as the former president of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), Paraguayan Nicolas Leoz.

Both Figueredo and Webb were arrested early on Wednesday by Swiss authorities, who acted at the request of the US.

Trinidad and Tobago's Jack Warner, a former FIFA vice president and ex-president of CONCACAF, also was among the 14 defendants indicted.

"Most of the schemes alleged in the indictment relate to the solicitation and receipt of bribes and kickbacks by soccer officials from sports marketing executives in connection with the commercialisation of the media and marketing rights associated with various soccer matches and tournaments," the US Justice Department said.

Four of the defendants are sports marketing executives, while one other defendant allegedly served as a liaison to facilitate illicit payments by sports marketing executives to soccer officials.

"Other alleged schemes relate to the payment and receipt of bribes and kickbacks in connection with the sponsorship of the Brazilian soccer federation by a major US sportswear company, the selection of the host country for the 2010 World Cup (South Africa) and the 2011 FIFA presidential election," the Justice Department said.

The acting US attorney of the Eastern District of New York, Kelly Currie said the indictment as well as the guilty pleas of four individual defendants and two corporate defendants, also unsealed Wednesday, do not mark "the final chapter in our investigation".

In explaining why the US Justice Department was prosecuting leaders of soccer's world governing body, Lynch said the defendants and their co-conspirators partially planned their scheme in the US, used the US banking system to pay bribes and "planned to profit from their scheme in large part through promotional efforts directed at the growing US market for soccer".

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May 28,2020

New Delhi, May 28: India is not at risk of losing hosting rights for next year's Twenty20 World Cup despite its cricket board's failure to secure a tax exemption for the event, a key BCCI official has told Reuters.

Tax exemptions for International Cricket Council (ICC) events are listed as a requirement in host agreements and the BCCI was supposed to confirm they had secured one by May 18.

ESPNcricinfo, citing correspondence between the two bodies, has reported that the ICC has threatened to shift the tournament away from India over the issue.

However, BCCI treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal told Reuters that would not happen and that negotiations were continuing.

"There is no risk to the tournament," he said by telephone.

"That is a work in progress. We are discussing it with the ICC and we'll resolve it."

The BCCI encountered a similar problem when it hosted the event in 2016 when the government refused to provide a tax exemption, and there has been no change in New Delhi's stance despite the board's appeals.

Failure to secure that exemption in 2016 saw the ICC withhold an equivalent sum from India's share of revenue from the governing body's grants and it appears to be taking an even harder line this time around.

"There are certain timelines within the agreements that we collectively work towards to ensure we can deliver successful world class events and continue to invest in the sport of cricket," an ICC spokesperson told Reuters.

"In addition to this the ICC Board agreed clear timelines for the resolution of the tax issues which we are guided by."

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March 2,2020

Christchurch, Mar 2: India captain Virat Kohli on Monday said the under-fire Rishabh Pant has got a "lot of chances" but the team is not looking to try someone else in the youngster's place just yet as one player can't be singled out in a collective failure.

Pant has been under the scanner for the past one year because of his inconsistent run. His tally of 60 runs across four innings in the 0-2 Test series loss to New Zealand, which concluded here on Monday, has only amplified the debate whether it was prudent to leave out a keeper of Wriddhiman Saha's calibre and back Pant.

"...we have given him (Pant) a lot of chances in the home season as well starting from Australia. Then he was not playing for a bit. In turn he really worked hard on himself," Kohli came to Pant's defence after the series here.

"You need to figure out when is the right time to give someone else a chance. If you push people too early, they can lose confidence," he added.

"...collectively, we didn't perform. I don't believe in singling him out. We take the hit together as a group whether it's the batting group or as a team."

When asked if he believes Pant has taken his place in the side for granted, Kohli made it clear that the culture of this team doesn't encourage anyone to think along those lines.

"I don't see anyone taking his place for granted in this team. That's the culture we have set. People are told to take responsibilities and work hard. Whether it happens or not is a different thing. Then you can have a conversation with the players," he said.

"But no one has come here thinking I am going to play every game or I am indispensable," he added in no uncertain terms.

Kohli, just like head coach Ravi Shastri, made it clear that Pant can make a difference in overseas conditions and he won't like to deviate during future tours.

"The time that he didn't play, he really worked hard on his game. So we thought this is the right time because of his game and the way he plays because he can make a difference lower down the order.

"That was our planning behind it. We can't really fluctuate when it comes to what we planned," he added.

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July 6,2020

New Delhi, Jul 6: India's cricket chief Sourav Ganguly says improved fitness standards and a change in culture have led to the country developing one of the world's best pace attacks.

Spearheads Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah are part of a battery of five formidable quick bowlers that have helped change India's traditional reliance on spin bowling.

"You know culture has changed in India that we can be good fast bowlers," Ganguly said in a chat hosted on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Twitter feed.

"Fitness regimes, fitness standards not only just among fast bowlers but also among the batters, that has changed enormously. That has made everyone understand and believe that we are fit, we are strong and we can also bowl fast like the others did."

The West Indies dominated world cricket in the 1970s and 1980s led by a fearsome pace attack that included all-time greats such as Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall and Joel Garner.

Recently Indian quicks have risen to the top in world cricket with Shami, Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in a deadly arsenal.

"The West Indies in my generation were naturally strong," the former India captain said.

"We Indians were never such naturally strong... but we worked hard to get strong. But I think it is the change in culture as well that is very important."

Shami last month claimed that the current Indian pace attack may be the best in Test history.

"You and everyone else in the world will agree to this -- that no team has ever had five fast bowlers together as a package," said Shami.

"Not just now, in the history of cricket, this might be the best fast-bowling unit in the world."

Shami took 13 wickets during India's 3-0 home Test sweep over South Africa last year, while Bumrah has claimed 68 scalps in 14 Tests since his debut.

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