BY TIM PARSONS
Interpool -an international police agency -have announced it is freezing 20 m Euros (14m pounds) donated by Fifa in 2011. The Integrity in Sport agreement was intended to combat match fixing and illegal gambling. Head of Interpol, Juergen Stock released a statement saying:
“In light of the current context surrounding Fifa, while Interpol is still committed to developing our Integrity in Sport programme, I have decided to suspend the agreement,” Juergen Stock, the head of Interpol, said in a statement.
“All external partners, whether public or private, must share the fundamental values and principles of the organisation, as well as those of the wider law enforcement community.
The agreement between Interpol and Fifa stated that the football body must be “compatible with the principles, aims and activities of Interpol”.
The stance taking against Fifa is punitive and most welcome. There can hardly be an organisation that would want to be associated with an institution exposed for the mass level of corruption that pervaded almost every aspect o Fifa’s dealings in connection with the World up. It is not imaginable that even some football matches may have been covertly fixed so brilliantly to escape detection. Paying fans deserve to know that every facet of the game they so love is conduct with the utmost integrity and honor, without the abhorrent level of crookedness that recently came to light.
The program in conjunction with interpol was supposedly central to addressing the ”transnational problem of match fixing” according to a spokesperson for Fifa who spoke to the BBC earlier today. However , the corruption and transgressions of FIFA was so extensive and far reaching, that match fixing only constituted a small element of the problem. In the current climate of disbelief, disappointment and loss, there is no room to accommodate any words from the belegered football body called Fifa. They should be concentrating on rectifying the huge disservice they have done to the football world globally.
Interpol have an annual budget of nearly 80m pounds and is the second largest political organisation after the UN. It’s headquarters is based in France.
