FIFA Investigation Head Still Believes there are ‘skeletons in the cupboard’

September 21, 2012

Mark Pieth, the man appointed to investigate corruption at FIFA has said the organisation has “skeletons in the cupboard” and that he has encountered resistance to his work.

Pieth was brought in to chair FIFA’s Independent Governance Committee (IGC) by Sepp Blatter, the president of world football’s governing body.

He told the BBC he believed some members of the organisation were resisting his investigative efforts, saying: “We’ve introduced this new, independent judicial system but I think they need to look at the past.

“They have skeletons in the cupboard, that’s true. There are some, usually older people, who don’t agree with what is happening.”

The IGC was set up in 2011 after a series of corruption scandals and claims. In March, it published a report that said past allegations of corruption had been sufficiently investigated.

Blatter set up an ethics committee in response, but Pieth, a 59-year-old Swiss professor, believes much more work remains to be done.