FILE DETAILS

Audio Length: 22 minutes

Audio Quality: High Average Low

Number of Facilitators: One

Number of Interviewees: Numerous

Difficult Interviewee Accents: Yes No

Other Comments:

Petrus Damaseb: Welcome President Blatter. Everybody before you was accompanied.

I assume you are unaccompanied - you are alone?

President Blatter: Chairman, Mr President, yes, I am alone.

Petrus Damaseb: Thank you very much, sir. President Blatter, as you are aware, we

have convened this afternoon as a panel of the Ethics Committee at

the request of the Secretary General of FIFA. The circumstances

under which we convene relate to, as you know, the forthcoming

elections for the presidency of FIFA and the allegations that have

been made around that. The reason you are present here is that Mr

Bin Hammam, who is in his own right an accused, has asked that a

case be opened against you and that was referred to the Ethics

Committee.

For the record, as the Deputy Chairman of the Ethics Committee, I

chair this meeting because our substantive Chairman, Claudio Sulser,

because of his Swiss nationality and the fact that you are a contestant

in the elections is an accused himself and therefore, in that capacity, I

chair this meeting. As you know, I am a national of Namibia, a judge

of the High Court of Namibia. I have with me Justice Torres, a judge

of the Supreme Court of Guam, and I have Juan Pedro Damiani.

Damiani, do you want to just briefly tell the President what you do?

Juan Pedro Damiani: We know each other for some time now so, for the last 12 years, I've

been Vice Chairman of the Uruguay Federation and now I'm President

of the club Penarol. I've been in FIFA since 98 and I'm a banker and

economist by trade.

Les Murray: I don’t think the President needs my introduction but, for the record, I

will. I'm Les Murray, a journalist from Australia, Editorial Executive at

SBS Television. I've been a broadcaster and commentator in

Australia on football for 30 years and I've been on this Committee

since its inception in 2006.

Sondre Kaafjord: Good afternoon Mr President, I'm Sondre Kaafjord from Norway and I

was the President of the Norwegian FA for six years. I left presidency

last year and now I'm a bank manager.

Petrus Damaseb: Now, sir, that is the composition of the Committee. The reason I have

asked that we go through that procedure is since you are accused

also of something you have certain rights. One of them is if you wish

to object to the composition of the Committee. Any objection?

President Blatter: I do not object.

Petrus Damaseb: Thank you very much. The next is to explain to you why we are here.

I already begun to do that. Allegations have been made by Mr Bin

Hammam that, in seven of the documents that have been brought

against him in the context of the inquiry against him, an allegation was

made that it had been reported to you by Mr Jack Warner that certain

payments were going to be made by Mr Bin Hammam to national

associations and that, to the extent that it is alleged that you are

aware of those payments, you are under a duty to disclose that fact.

That is the basis for the allegation.

Now, in terms of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, the purpose of the

procedure today is to determine in respect of the allegations against

you whether there appears to be an infringement of the Code of

Conduct as article 129 read with article 130 of the Code of Ethics

which empowers us as a disciplinary group - I mean as an Ethics

Committee to check if there appears to be any evidence of an

infringement and, if we think there is, to consider whether provisional

measures must be taken. Which provisional measures might include

temporary exclusion of an accused person, in this case yourself, from

football activities until the inquiry has been completed.

That is the allegation Mr President Blatter, and the context of that and

to proceed you have therefore been summoned as the accused in this

procedure under case number 110159, [instituted] against you with

regard to the possible violation of FIFA statutes, the Disciplinary Code

and the Code of Ethics - in particular article seven and 14 of the FIFA

Code of Ethics. In this regard, I would like to draw your attention to

the fact that acts amounting to attempt an intentional involvement in

committing an infringement either as instigator or accomplice, Article

nine of the Disciplinary Code are also punishable.

As an accused person, you have the right to remain silent. Should

you refuse to testify, the Ethics Committee will reach a decision based

on the records and evidence available to it. In accordance with Article

seven of the FIFA statutes and Article one of the FIFA Code of Ethics,

you are subject to the ages and the sanctioning powers of FIFA and

you can expect to be sanctioned should what you have said be found

to be untrue. At this point in time I would like to invite a member of the

secretariat to read the formal charge.

Male: Thank you Mr Chairman. Mr President, the charge against you is as

follows - Mr Bin Hammam stated that in view of the report of Mr Chuck

Blazer, FIFA Executive Committee member and CONCACAF General

Secretary, remitted to the FIFA Secretary General, Mr Jerome Valcke,

you allegedly committed several infringements to the FIFA regulations.

In particular that you were allegedly informed by Mr Warner about

some cash payments and that you allegedly had no issue with it.

Consequently you are accused of a possible violation of Article seven

of the FIFA statutes and Article 14 of the FIFA Code of Ethics.

Petrus Damaseb: President Blatter, that is the allegation against you and I repeat say

that, at this stage, we have to determine as a Committee whether this

allegation against you and the evidence that has been provided there

appears to be an infringement of the code on your part and, in that

context, to consider whether we should impose provisional measures.

Now, against that background I now invite you to present to the

Committee your side of the story and all the evidence that you wish us

to take into account to consider the two questions.

Whether or not there appears to be an infringement and whether, if we

think there is such an infringement, what factors you want us to take

into account in order not to impose the provisional measures as

contemplated. The floor is yours, sir.

President Blatter: Thank you Chairman, thank you gentlemen, lady, around this table. I

have listened carefully the introductory remarks and the accusation

that has been brought towards me. Mr Chairman, I have answered on

28 May to you and to the members this allegation in written form and I

suppose that you have this letter or this document in front of you. I

would just like to go into one very important point. This is this Article

14 of the FIFA Code of Ethics because when I met the Vice President

of FIFA, Mr Jack Austin Warner, then on this special day of the

Sunday 10 April I told him that he should refrain from organising such

a meeting.

It's not the first time I told him that - such an individual meeting with

one of the part of his confederation. It's not the whole confederation,

it's the CFU. To refrain, and when he was speaking the aspect of

money I told him again, don’t speak about that. Then, for me, the

situation was closed. My message has been given very clearly and

when I am looking on this Article 14 then I should report if any

evidence was there. There was not evidence because this was a

declaration of Mr Warner and I thought that he will understand my

message.

It is only when I came back the other day from travel from Japan, on

23 May, that I was informed by the Secretary General that he has

received some evidences. So, between the time I spoke with Mr

Warner in April and this time there, I personally had no evidence that

something had happened and I was of the opinion that Mr Warner

would have understood my very clear message. First to not organise

this special meeting and secondly to not speak about money.

Petrus Damaseb: Thank you very much President Blatter. Members of the Committee,

are there any issues you seek to clarify? Questions you want to ask

of Mr Blatter?

Male: I just have a couple. This occurred, Mr President, on the meeting that

- late evening that you had with him on 10 April?

President Blatter: Yes.

Male: When he talked about the money, did he give some indication about

amounts or what they would be for, or anything of that nature?

President Blatter: No, he has only mentioned what I put there. It would be good for

some of the associations. I told him, stop speaking about money, but

he didn’t speak about any amount or the number or whatever.

Male: He didn’t say what the purpose was? Did he say, for example, it

would be for reimbursement of expenses for them to attend this

meeting?

President Blatter: No, he hadn’t said that, no.

Male: Okay.

Les Murray: Did he mention where the money was coming from? Did he mention

Mohammed Bin Hammam being the supplier of this money?

President Blatter: He has not expressed his [verbis] - said where the money is coming

from. But it was my understanding that, when speaking about the

election and this special meeting, based on, I would say, an argument

that he will not receive a visa to go to the official meeting of the

CONCACAF, then I suppose. But we didn’t speak about that the

money is coming there - from who the money was coming.

Sondre Kaafjord: Mr President, two questions. One, was it your impression in

discussion with Jack Warner that he preferred to have, excuse me,

Bin Hammam to the CFU meeting instead of the CONCACAF

congress? Did you have the impression that he had a preference for

a smaller meeting instead of inviting him to the CONCACAF

congress?

President Blatter: According to my information at that time was that part of the Executive

Committee of the CONCACAF, and specifically the central part and

the northern part, they were not happy with such an initiative to have a

special congress for the candidate because at the first instance it was

said that congress should be with the whole of CONCACAF. Because

of the vitriol of the north - or the rejection of the north and the centre,

then he said, okay then, I will do it only for the CFU because I'm the

Chairman of the CFU and so I can [rogue] my members.

Sondre Kaafjord: Second question - did you ever, after that meeting on 10 April, discuss

this matter or mention Warner's intention to Mr Chuck Blazer?

President Blatter: I think I spoke with Mr Blazer before this meeting because he told me

that the northern part and the central part of the CONCACAF is

against this meeting. So it was before I met Mr Warner.

Petrus Damaseb: President Blatter, anything you want to say in conclusion at this point

in time in your defence?

President Blatter: Yes, I have a lot to say in my defence in such a case. I have to tell

you, Mr Chairman, if I am happy to be [once] with the Ethics

Committee I didn’t know that I shall be here as an accused. I present

my defence but I have to say it's a sad day. It is a sad day for me to

be here but it's a happy day that I can defend myself in front of you.

So I'm happy to be here, I'm honoured to be in a constitutional

Committee that I have had the initiative to put in in FIFA after having

served so many years in FIFA and having seen that we are not able to

go on what happened outside of the field of play.

We are the wonderful organisation which is called the Disciplinary

Committee Board of Appeal when it comes to all what has happened

inside the field of play. But outside the field of play was not done.

That’s why, in 2006, in the congress of Munich we have installed the

FIFA Ethics Committee with the FIFA Code of Ethics. I would just

advise the members of the whole of FIFA to read once this because -

and Mr Chairman it's not my defence but I tell you at the congress - on

the forthcoming congress I have on the agenda, and this is since two

months, zero tolerance.

Zero tolerance was, by your Committee you said zero tolerance. I

take it off from you, I put it on the agenda and this will be one of the

key points of the next congress. For my defence I don’t say more

than what is the truth. I had no evidence what I am accused - why

should I have had a problem. If there is a problem somewhere I am

the number one to go into these problems. Here, for me, there was

not a problem because the problem had been created by the other

parties.

This I'm just wanting to add and to thank you for your dedication for

the good of the game because we are in a situation when the Ethics

Committee of FIFA is starting its real activities last year and now going

into with these matters. I congratulate you, I thank you what you are

doing. Thank you for your attention Mr Chairman, members of the

Committee.

Petrus Damaseb: Thank you very much, President Blatter. Now, at this point of the

procedure it is my duty to ask whether there is any aspect of the

procedure this afternoon about which you are dissatisfied, or are you

happy with everything that has transpired? Have we treated you

fairly, are you unhappy with the way in which anything has transpired

here this afternoon, sir?

President Blatter: Definitely, Chairman. You and the Committee members, you treated

me fairly. This is exactly what we want. It is respect; it is discipline

and fair play. Thank you so much.

Petrus Damaseb: Thank you very much, President Blatter. In conclusion, as I said, we

are here to consider whether there is any appearance of an offence

being committed and whether we should invoke provisional measures

in the light of whatever conclusion we come to. How do we

communicate our decision to you this afternoon after we have

deliberated, sir?

President Blatter: I am in my office, I am working.

Petrus Damaseb: You know where the President's office is, you are happy? I would like

to thank you for your cooperation in coming. As I have done with

others, of course given your pivotal position in the organisation and a

senior official of FIFA, we assume that you will continue to provide

your cooperation to the Committee with its continuing investigation of

this matter?

President Blatter: Definitely, yes. You can count on 100 per cent of this zero tolerance,

definitely. I thank you for your help.

Petrus Damaseb: Thank you, Mr President. You are excused now.