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Romario vows to dig deeper into FIFA mess

Comment: 0 November 11th, 2011 by: admin

ROMARIO had etched his name on the pitch as a former star player. Now he’s making another great contribution off it.

Presently a congressman, the ex-star striker is hot on the heels of FIFA and the Brazilian football federation president Ricardo Teixeira over alleged irregularities case thrown against them.

Romario has vowed to step up his drive in the Brazilian parliament to shed light on the anomaly involving the football official.

He said he is joining hands with other lawmakers in his country to probe Teixeira and the national football governing body ahead of the 2014 World Cup to be hosted by Brazil.

Among his major campaigns is to pressure Swiss authorities to provide documents allegedly showing Teixeira, the 2014 World Cup organising committee president, as being among the members accused of taking kickbacks from a former FIFA marketing partner in the 1990s.

The said marketing ally, ISL, closed shop in 2001 and Romario said on his website that he and his fellow legislators would ask Swiss authorities to allow them to review files from a court case involving ISL. According to him, access to the documents is ‘crucial for the World Cup to take place with clarity and honesty in our country.’

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has reported Teixeira and Joao Havelange, the predecessor of current FIFA chief Sepp Blatter, were named in court documents as the two FIFA members who repaid kickbacks worth US$7 million. The world governing body in football has blocked the court in Zug from identifying the officials.

As part of his move to reform FIFA and world football after bribery allegations emerged, Blatter last month vowed to furnish the files from the 10-year-old corruption scandal. He said the executive committee will reopen the ISL dossier during their meeting in Tokyo set for Dec. 16-17.

During a congressional committee meeting Wednesday, Romario asked Teixeira and FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke several questions about alleged irregularities involving the Brazilian football official and the football governing body.

But Romario was unimpressed because the duo gave a few evasive answers.

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