October 27 – So often portrayed as one of the main culprits in the world football corruption scandal, CONMEBOL has opened legal proceedings against its American sponsorship partners International Soccer Marketing Inc (ISM) in a bid to recover damages of $18 million paid in commission for exclusive broadcasting rights.
CONMEBOL said it based its action on the fact ISM’s owners had admitted in a US court they had paid bribes to former CONMEBOL directors over two decades for commercial rights to the Copa Libertadores, the equivalent of Europe’s Champions League.
“This is the first of several legal actions CONMEBOL will initiate in the coming weeks,” Monserrat Jimenez, CONMEBOL’s Legal Director, said in a statement.
“One of the cornerstones of the new CONMEBOL is to do justice for South American football,” she said. “We are committed to seek redress for damages caused by those who abused their power in the past.”
CONMEBOL said the money was paid in commissions for the Copa Libertadores marketing rights since 1998.
Three former CONMEBOL bosses are among those indicted in the US-led corruption probe, including 88-year-old Nicolas Leoz who was head of the South American confederation for 27 years from 1986 and is under house arrest in Asuncion with an order for his extradition to the US.
CONMEBOL’s current president Alejandro Dominguez, elected last January, has pledged to clean up the organisation including suing companies that benefitted from corruption carried out by his predecessors.
This latest move reportedly came after an ISM chief admitted to American prosecutors that the company paid bribes to former CONMEBOL officials.
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