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Associated Press

Fifa has officially eradicated corruption. All it took was pressing the delete key.
Football officials and players who bother checking out the new code of ethics governing their conduct will find the word “corruption” missing. They will also discover how to now avoid being banned for paying and receiving bribes.
Corruption was scrubbed as an official misdemeanour during secret meetings where executives executed the first overhaul of the code since a wave of scandals left world football’s governing body “clinically dead” by 2015.
That was the hyperbole used by Gianni Infantino during a speech at the World Cup in June boasting of his own apparent achievements cleaning up Fifa.
But in two years as Fifa president, Infantino has been accused of violating governance rules and forcing out officials who threatened his position.
It will be even easier now for Fifa to banish critics.
A new offence has been introduced in the ethics code – defamation. There are no specific examples, providing flexibility for the ethics committee to decide on the burden of proof – as with all cases.
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“Persons bound by this code are forbidden from making any public statements of a defamatory nature towards Fifa and/or towards any other person bound by this code in the context of Fifa events,” section 22.2 of the new code states.
Those found to have defamed Fifa will be banned from any football-related activities for up to two years and they can be booted out for five years for repeated “serious cases”.
The vagueness provides leeway for Fifa, through theoretically independent ethics organs, to punish detractors.

The ethics code was first introduced in 2004 by Sepp Blatter to provide a veneer of probity for an organisation abused for personal gain by so many for decades. Of course, Blatter was expelled from the Fifa presidency for financial misconduct in 2015 by the ethics committees he created. Blatter’s toppling came amid the fallout from American prosecutors indicting dozens of football officials and entities for corruption – the concept now erased by Fifa from its principle English-language ethics documents.
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Bribery is still prohibited in the ethics code, but the ability to prosecute cases has been weakened.
The 2012 code said “prosecution for bribery and corruption” was not subject to a “limitation period.” However long it took investigators to uncover offences, you could still be sanctioned.
But section 12.1 of the new code states: “Bribery, misappropriation of funds and manipulation of football matches or competitions may no longer be prosecuted after a lapse of 10 years.”
The message to football officials not deterred from seeking to profit from bribery and fraud by the criminal cases: as long as the misdemeanour is not discovered for 10 years you will be in the clear at Fifa.

FIFA has abolished corruption as an offence, innoculated itself against defamation and put a statute of limitations on bribery charges. Who do they think they are, the IOC?https://t.co/vizPdmL7Hx
— Greg Baum (@GregBaum) 14 August 2018

Ethics prosecutors now only have five years to complete cases into other general breaches of the code – half the previous time permitted to uncover wrongdoing.
The new code does allow the lead ethics prosecutor Maria Claudia Rojas to enter into plea bargains to resolve cases that do not involve bribery, misappropriation of funds or match fixing. But that could add another layer of murkiness and secrecy, keeping cases hidden from public view.
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“The new Fifa is a democracy, it is not a dictatorship,” Infantino told Fifa members during an address in 2017. “It is a transparent organisation … a deeply honest organisation.”
But ask for clarity on changes to the ethics code that helped to banish a raft of unscrupulous officials and there is little willingness to be transparent. Fifa was ill-prepared to respond to questions following an Associated Press review of the new code ahead of its implementation. The Zurich-based body only says the changes were based on proposals from the ethics committee, who football fans never get to hear from.
During their first years in the job, the heads of the investigatory and adjuratory chambers of the ethics committees have been blocked from speaking to the media by Fifa.
Fifa finally has found more compliant scrutineers of ethics. The previous judge and prosecutor were ousted in 2017 by Infantino, prompting them to claim Fifa integrity was being jeopardised by the president.
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After the revamp to the ethics code – approved in private by the Fifa Council – football’s resolve to kick out the crooks still seems ambiguous. Particularly when the very word corruption has been purged.


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Fifa

Fifa removes ‘corruption’ from English-language code of ethics and introduces 10-year limit for prosecuting bribery

Fifa president Gianni Infantino attends the group G match between Belgium and Tunisia at the 2018 World Cup. Photo: AP

Indicted former FIFA vice president Jack Warner sits in his office on June 6, 2015 in Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago. A member of Parliament, Warner has continued attending his constituencies after being released on bail from jail. He was indicted by the United States for allegedly taking a $10 million bribe to help South Africa win the race to host the 2010 World Cup. AFP PHOTO / DIEGO URDANETA

Soccer Football - World Cup - Final - France v Croatia - Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Russia - July 15, 2018 FIFA president Gianni Infantino, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of France Emmanuel Macron during the presentation REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY SEARCH "FIFA BEST" FOR ALL PICTURES.

FILE PHOTO: FIFA's President Sepp Blatter shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) during the preliminary draw for the 2018 FIFA World Cup at Konstantin Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia July 25, 2015. REUTERS/Grigory Dukor/File Photo

Disgraced Sepp Blatter hijacks Russia 2018 World Cup as Vladimir Putin trolls Fifa and football fans

Sepp Blatter walks through the St Regis hotel lobby after arriving in Moscow to watch the World Cup. Photo: Reuters

A picture taken on June 14, 2018 in a Saudi football fan tent in the capital Riyadh shows a projector showing the Russia 2018 World Cup Group A football match between Russia and Saudi Arabia, with a clip of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (L) gesturing as he sits next to FIFA President Gianni Infantino (C) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (R). / AFP PHOTO / Fayez Nureldine

Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter speaks to the media as he arrives to the hotel St Regis in Moscow, on June 19, 2018, during the Russia 2018 World Cup football tournament. / AFP PHOTO / Vasily MAXIMOV

FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010 file photo, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, right, shakes hands with FIFA President Joseph Blatter after Russia was announced as the host for the 2018 soccer World Cup in Zurich, Switzerland. Vladimir Putin was only the prime minister of Russia, not president, when it won a 2018 World Cup hosting campaign that is still under criminal investigation. It was still clearly his victory in a campaign that got stronger through 2010 as Putin became more involved. (AP Photo/Kurt Schorrer, Pool, File)

Former FIFA President Joseph Blatter arrives at a hotel in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, June 19, 2018. Suspended former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has arrived in Moscow for a World Cup visit at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin.(AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

Sport

Football

Football’s governing body updates 2004 document introduced by disgraced ex-president Sepp Blatter, with corruption scrubbed as official misdemeanour after secret meetings


Fifa World Cup 2018