FIFA statutes remain Blatter’s best friend to hold even internal critics at bay
KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: FIFA has found itself stuck in a legal conundrum in the wake of president Sepp Blatter’s defiant refusal to be pushed out of office by four World Cup sponsors.
Blatter was informed last week that he is under criminal investigation for selling misvalued World Cup TV rights to then-president of CONCACAF Jack Warner and also for authorising a ‘disloyal payment’ to Michel Platini.
Immediately afterwards Blatter and FIFA engaged separate independent lawyers. This means that Blatter cannot speak formally for FIFA – but also that FIFA cannot speak for Blatter.
Hence it was Blatter’s own lawyer, Richard Cullen, who issued the late-night statement that FIFA’s president was not prepared to submit to the resignation demand issued by Coca-Cola and, through association, by McDonald’s, Visa and Anheuser-Busch InBev.
FIFA itself, with the resignation demands breaking late in the evening, was not in a position to issue any statement on its own behalf.
Next option
Statutes Paragraph 32.1 states that the “president represents FIFA legally.” In the current circumstances he is unable to do that and his position might be viewed as legally untenable by some. At the least, using independent lawyers averts concerns over a conflict of interests.
If the president is unable to undertake his duties then the senior vice-president steps up as interim president.
This is a problem for FIFA’s senior managers because the senior vice-president is the unloved Issa Hayatou, Cameroonian president of the African confederation.
Hayatou’s own credibility is open to attack through his past acceptance of illicit cash from FIFA’s former marketing partner ISL and from the manner in which he has manipulated CAF rules and regulations to protect his own presidential status.
Any members of the executive committee unhappy with events also face a high bar should they wish to summon an emergency meeting.
Statutes insist that it needs at least 13 members of the exco to support a call for such a meeting. Blatter’s influence remains such that any rebel would struggle to obtain 12 supporters – even in the current embattled circumstances.
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