By Andrew Warshaw
April 6 – Both using the word “dismayed”, suggesting they had liaised before responding, FIFA president Gianni Infantino and his former employers at UEFA have both reacted furiously to any claim of wrongdoing after being drawn into the Panama Papers offshore tax haven affair.
As the activities of the rich and powerful continued to be laid bare as a result of the leaked Mossack Fonseca files, both Infantino and UEFA were quick to distance themselves from any suggestion that they were complicit in shady dealings.
Freshly released files show that Infantino, while he was at UEFA, signed off a contract in 2006 to Argentine father and son Hugo and Mariano Jinkis who bought TV rights for the Champions League to be shown in Ecuador, then immediately sold them on for almost three times the price via an offshore company.
Infantino, who succeeded Sepp Blatter at the end of February, is not accused of any wrongdoing but the Jinkis’ have been indicted as part of the US Justice Department’s corruption probe that brought FIFA to its knees. Both father and son are currently under house arrest in Argentina fighting extradition having been named as two of those indicted in the FIFAGate scandal accused of bribery and kickbacks to secure marketing contracts for the South American region.
The Panama Papers were shared between Germany’s SuddeutscheZeitung and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists which comprises a raft of highly respected media organisations worldwide. But in a hard-hitting statement, Infantino, unwittingly dragged into the spotlight just five weeks after taking the reins at FIFA, slammed sections of the media for overblowing his role in the affair.
“I am dismayed and will not accept that my integrity is being doubted by certain areas of the media, especially given that UEFA has already disclosed in detail all facts regarding these contracts,” he said.
The files reveal the Jinkis’ used their power as directors of an offshore company named Cross Trading SA to gain Champions League rights.
But Infantino declared: “From the moment I was made aware of the latest media enquiries on the matter, I immediately contacted UEFA to seek clarity. I did this because I am no longer with UEFA, and it is they who exclusively possess all contractual information relating to this query. In the meantime, UEFA has announced that it has been conducting a review of its numerous commercial contracts and has answered extensively all media questions related to these specific contracts.
“As I previously stated, I never personally dealt with Cross Trading nor their owners as the tender process was conducted by Team Marketing on behalf of UEFA.
“I would like to state for the record that neither UEFA nor I have ever been contacted by any authorities in relation to these particular contracts.
“Moreover, as media themselves report, there is no indication whatsoever for any wrongdoings from neither UEFA nor myself in this matter.”
At almost exactly the same time as Infantino’s fierce rebuttal, UEFA acted likewise, defending its own conduct and reputation as well as bending over backwards to laud its former general secretary’s character by attacking the media for an “attempted slur… based on absolutely no evidence whatsoever” in what was described as a “sad day for journalism.”
UEFA’s statement read:
“Uefa is dismayed by certain stories in the media suggesting that there might have been untoward or improper conduct in connection with a television rights contract concluded with a company based in Ecuador,” its statement said.
“For the record, and as repeatedly explained to the explained to the media, there was never any suggestion that anything improper took place. These explanations have been conveyed to the media in a clear, reasonable, and perfectly transparent way.
“It is therefore all the more regrettable that, despite the explanations given, some sections of the media have chosen to misrepresent matters and mislead the public by suggesting or implying otherwise.”
“It is correct that UEFA was asked some time ago whether it had any commercial dealings with certain companies and/or individuals named in the US indictment. At the time of our initial response we had not had the opportunity to check each and every one of our (thousands) of commercial contracts and so the answer given was initially incomplete.
“That is the reason why Gianni Infantino initially thought, based on the information provided by UEFA, that there had been no previous UEFA contracts with any companies and/or individuals named in the indictment. That is also why FIFA gave this information to the media.
“We have now had the opportunity to conduct a full review of our commercial contracts and, as regards this particular TV contract in Ecuador dating back to 2006, it should be pointed out that rights in question were awarded after an open tender conducted by TEAM Marketing, acting on behalf of UEFA. The rights were awarded to Teleamazonas/Cross Trading because they made the highest offer on the market.
“For the record, neither UEFA nor Gianni Infantino have ever been contacted by any authorities in connection with this particular contract. Of course, if UEFA is contacted for any reason then it will be more than happy to cooperate.
“Furthermore, and given the way in which this story has been misrepresented in the media, UEFA wishes to go on record with the statement that Gianni Infantino has been an outstanding member of UEFA staff for many years, a man who has always acted with complete professionalism and integrity, and that this attempted slur on his character and on the reputation of UEFA, based on absolutely no evidence whatsoever, is not only a sad day for football but also a sad day for journalism.
“UEFA would also like to take this opportunity to affirm that as always it is totally open to discuss and explain all relevant background information to the media on this or any other matter.”
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