Bloggers find evidence of Russia bribing FIFA officials ahead of 2018 World Cup
In the hacked correspondence of Sergei Kapkov, former head of the Moscow Department of Culture, the Black Mirror Telegram channel has found evidence that Russia may have bribed FIFA officials in order to get the right to host the 2018 World Cup. Among the correspondence published on Tuesday, October 29, was a letter from Alexander Djordjadze, head of the Russia 2018 organizing committee, dated March 15, 2010, which contained a dossier on each member of FIFA’s executive committee.
Joseph Blatter, who was president of FIFA at the time, is described as “subtle, cunning and exclusively diplomatic” and “greedy for the attention of world leaders”. “Regular contact with him must be maintained on the level of the country’s leadership… The upcoming world cup in South Africa is his personal triumph. In this regard, a powerful move would be for one of our leaders to attend the tournament,” the letter continues.
The authors of the dossier suggest that Michel Platini, then president of UEFA, could be interested in a “bid concept that is attractive and significant for European and global soccer”. The dossier also claims that he can be influenced “through UEFA’s major commercial partners” and through another member of FIFA’s executive committee, the Cypriot Marios Lefkaritis, “to whom Platini owes a great deal”, the document observes.
Of the German Franz Beckenbauer, it is said that he is friends with Thomas Bach, then Vice-President of the International Olympic Committee (he has been president of committee since 2013). Beckenbauer could be influenced by “lavishly rewarding” his advisor Fedor Radmann, the dossier notes.
Regarding the Brit Geoff Thompson, the authors of the dossier advise the use of diplomatic channels and “expensive gifts to his wife, who has a powerful influence over him”. The Cypriot Lefkaritis would be “inclined to give his vote for a financial reward of 1-1.5 million euros”, states the document, a copy of which is also in The Insider’s possession. Whoever compiled the dossier also suggests that bribes be offered to the representatives of Tahiti, Cameroon, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Argentina, and Trinidad and Tobago.