The Corruption and How It Has Been Exposed: Research Paper

Introduction

Corruption is a major problem for governments and organizations all over the world. Corruption may be interpreted differently depending on jurisdiction/society. Blackburn, Bose, and Haque (2004) consider corruption as the illegal, or unauthorized, profiteering by officials who exploit their positions for personal gain"(p.4). Shleifer and Vishny (1993, p. 600) describe corruption as the tendency of government officials to sell government property for personal gain. Although the latter definition captures acts that are corruption in nature, it is the former that reflects more about the corrupt practices that have been revealed regarding the behaviors of office bearers of the world's governing body, FIFA. However, Masters (2015, p.112) notes that corruption in sport does not necessarily meet the highlighted definitions because some people bribe for public gain. Although FIFA has introduced significant reforms that have reengineered sanity to the organization, more needs to be done to restore the confidence of the stakeholders.

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The information of corruption at FIFA became public in May 2015 when police raided a Zurich Hotel and arrested seven officials, a day before the FIFA congress took place. The arrests came after US federal prosecutors revealed that they were pursuing cases involving senior FIFA officials under the US criminal law. The six individuals arrested in Zurich were among 14 FIFA officials the American prosecutors sought over an accusation that they had participated in a $150 million bribery scandal (Bean 2016, p.367). The scandal involved officials from continental football confederations and the FIFA secretariat. The bribery also involved Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, then FIFA president and UEFA president respectively (Esposito 2016, pp.55-56).

The bribes given to officials were meant to influence decisions at various decision-making committees that govern various football confederations in different parts of the world. The investigation revealed that officials colluded with marketing executives to award marketing rights to high-profile world cup qualifier matches. The other type of bribery involved selling and buying of votes to host World Cup and also inflating of World Cup tickets (McFarland 2015). For instance, a known businessman from Qatar distributed envelopes containing $ 40, 000 to voting officials to influence the decision that awarded the country hosting rights for the 2022 World Cup (Bean 2016, p.378).

Why Corruption was Allowed to be Practised

Prior existence of a whiff of corruption at FIFA laid the groundwork for mega corruption that exploded in 2015. Although initial reports suggested that bribery took place a few years before the 2015 arrests, further revelations from the Justice Department showed that bribery cases dated back to 1991(McFarland 2015). For instance, a Swiss court released documents in 2011 indicating that former FIFA president Jao Havelange pocketed millions of dollars from various marketing companies. Therefore, a culture of taking bribes to influence decisions was already established but only came to the crisis levels and imploded during the reign of Sepp Blatter (Euronews 2016).

The other reason as to why corruption was practiced at FIFA is that some processes are done with a high degree of secrecy. FIFA is made up of football associations from 211 countries and each association has a voting right in the decision of electing the president and other organizational issues. Although member associations participate in the decision making process and some decisions are made in open procedures, critical decisions of the body are made by the executive committee that acts as the heartbeat of the organization. In many occasions, decisions of this committee are made in total secrecy (Esposito 2016, pp.48-49). The minimal transparency in the committee's dealings creates room for the processes to be abused because officials are not held to account for some of their decisions whether such outcomes have a positive impact on the associations or not.

Besides the secrecy, corruption thrives because of the enormous interest FIFA tournaments attract from private corporations. World football has become a highly profitable venture. More than 70 percent of FIFA revenue comes from selling of marketing and television rights of the World Cup and other championship games held after every four years. Increased commercialization of football has magnified the value of corporate sponsorships, broadcast and marketing rights and football-related items (Bean 2016, p.371). Such a scenario has made FIFA events an excellent opportunity for business organizations to advertise to increase their market value. Since FIFA provides the opportunity for these companies to reach a global audience, deals with the body are considered lucrative. Consequently, marketing executives pay bribes either as a way of influencing decisions in their favor or honoring to the demands of the FIFA officials. As noted by scholars, "Those offering bribes may do so either because they want something they are not entitled to, and bribe the official to bend the rules, or because they believe that the official will not give them their entitlements without some inducements"( Melgar, Rossi, & Smith 2010, p.15).

Perhaps the most significant factor that can explain why corruption was practiced is the bidding process of selecting the World Cup hosts. The World Cup is the largest source of revenue for FIFA due to its global reach (Esposito 2016, p.50). So many countries seek to host the event to benefit from the huge revenues related to the activities of the competition. Since bidding is a complex process with many requirements, countries are willing to offer bribes to win. For instance, the 2010 bid, which featured South Africa, Egypt and Morocco involved bribery and inflation of tickets by FIFA officials. Russia and Qatar wins as hosts for 2018 and 2022 editions respectively , were also marred with corruption (Esposito 2016, pp.50-52; Bean 2016, p.375-78). Here, bribery in bidding is not done for private but for public gain.

Response from FIFA Regarding Corruption

FIFA has responded to the issue of corruption in many ways. The immediate reaction by the organization was to sack officials involved in corruption scandals. After the scandal broke out in 2015(though it had been alleged since the 2010 World Cup edition in South Africa), senior officials such as Jerome Valcke, then vice president of FIFA, and his colleagues, were dismissed (Bean 2016, p.380-81). Two days after the election of Sepp Blatter, information leaked that the FIFA president paid Michel Platini, UEFA president, bribes which subsequently led to the suspension of the two leaders from the organization. The mentioned leaders were later banned from any football activities.

When the corruption allegations broke out in 2010 in South Africa regarding the Russia and Qatar wins as hosts, the FIFA issued a press statement, emphasizing its zero tolerance to corruption. Additionally, FIFA revised its code of ethics and reconstituted its Ethics Committee. The committee later prepared a report which revealed that, indeed, the Russia and Qatar bids involved bribery. The committee is also responsible for monitoring cases of bribery and breach of betting rules around the world. It also commissioned investigations under attorney Michael Garcia which revealed that FIFA officials were bribed during the 2010 executive committee voting on Russia and Qatar bids(Di Censo 2017, pp.120-21; Bean 2016, pp.377-78). The report confirmed reports of the existence of corruption hence helped the organization to institute other venues. The body's reaction represents a classic case of internal investigations launched by internal organs of FIFA to demonstrate to the football community and business stakeholders around the globe that efforts are being made to address the problem of corruption at the organization.

Closely related to internal inquiries are external investigations. FIFA invited external investigators to probe the allegations. A notable case was in 2015 when the body appointed two prominent law firms to carry out investigations. The investigation conducted intense investigations, including carrying out interviews with former executives. In 2017, the investigations were completed and information handed over both Swiss criminal agencies and other global governments (Panja 2017). Such a step is expected to aid relevant authorities to investigate cases of money laundering and profiteering. For instance, it is hoped, for example, that the US authorities would use the information provided by these reports to conduct further investigations of the cases because a considerable amount of money transfers has been found to have gone through the country's financial system. At the same time, countries can use the reports provided by FIFA-appointed investigators to deal with problems of corruption in their countries and confederations.

Reflection on FIFA Reforms/Revisions

Sacking and forceful resignations of officials can be an effective way of reducing cases of corruption in any organization. When people who engage in graft are relieved of their duties, it helps the relevant organization to institute internal investigations into the allegations that have been made against the affected individuals. For instance, the sacking of Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter paved the way for the independent inquest to take place. In my view, the removal of the then senior officials was a step in right direction for the organization because it can be challenging to investigate an employee while they are in office. The decision can be attributed to the all-important verdicts that led to the banning of the FIFA officials from engaging in football activities.

Internal investigations launched by FIFA into corruption allegations in 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids showed how an organization might deliberately engage in cover-ups. For instance, Bean(2016, pp.378-79) reveals that internal investigations sanctioned by FIFA following allegations that bribery was involved in the awarding of Qatar hosting rights for the 2022 finals, the findings were never acted upon by FIFA. The notable incident is the Michael Garcia report which found that money changed hands during the bidding process of the 2022 World Cup edition, but FIFA refused to make the findings public at the time. The reign of Giovanni Infantino has no doubt seen significant progress in changing FIFA's corrupt practices and the president has pledged to do more to tackle corruption (Marcotti 2018). However, I am not persuaded that a vice that has entrenched itself in an organization for decades can be solved quickly.

The report given by independent FIFA investigators has helped the body deal with internal issues that encourage corruption. Infantino recently urged the football community to assist in rebuilding the reputable of FIFA as a way of restoring confidence in the ability of the organization to deliver on its mandate (Marcotti 2018). Whereas anti-corruption efforts appear to realize some positive results, my observation is that corruption within the ranks of FIFA would be hard to eradicate. Today, the World Cup tournament is a lucrative business for broadcasting corporations and other business entities. I do not imagine a time when big corporations will stop jostling for contracts with FIFA. Such climate will always create room for corruption. FIFA does not pay taxes and is not regulated by any government (Bean 2016, p.371). For this reason, I do not reckon that FIFA officials would be scared to engage in corruption. Therefore, for FIFA to win the war against corruption, it must seek an audience with all stakeholders, including...