Hong Kong loophole may have helped Fifa suspect funnel cash
Monetary Authority did not rate officials in charge of world soccer as high-risk persons
A top-ranking Fifa official accused in connection with a global corruption and money laundering scandal engulfing world soccer may have been able to move cash through banks in Hong Kong as he was not deemed high-risk.
Sources confirmed that officials from soccer's governing bodies, such as Fifa, were not considered what are known as "politically exposed persons" under Hong Kong Monetary Authority guidelines.
If they were, any transactions linked to them or their associates would immediately trigger much stricter due diligence procedures than normal.
Hong Kong's role in the Fifa scandal emerged last week when US justice officials revealed that at least one senior official from the organisation had allegedly funnelled bribes through a bank account in the city.
Using a front company set up in the city and an HSBC account here, Fifa official Costas Takkas, 58, allegedly moved US$1.2 million in suspect payments received from a sports marketing conglomerate in Brazil.
According to international money laundering experts, Takkas - and the other eight officials now under arrest and awaiting extradition to the United States from Switzerland - should have been classified as "politically exposed persons".
