FIFA祕書長被曝涉嫌轉移大額公款

Federal authorities believe that Sepp Blatter’s top lieutenant at FIFA made $10 million in bank transactions that are central elements of the bribery scandal engulfing international soccer, United States officials and others briefed on the case said Monday. The revelation puts the money trail closer to Mr. Blatter, FIFA’s president, than had been previously known.

美國官員和其他知情人士週一透露，聯邦當局相信，賽普·布拉特(Sepp Blatter)在國際足聯(FIFA)的一名高級副手進行的1000萬美元銀行交易，是目前籠罩國際足壇的賄賂醜聞的核心。上述信息再次拉近了FIFA主席布拉特與本案中賄賂行爲的關係。

Jérôme Valcke, the soccer organization’s secretary general, is the unidentified “high-ranking FIFA official” who prosecutors say transferred $10 million in 2008 from FIFA to accounts controlled by another soccer official, Jack Warner, the officials said. The payment is a key piece of last week’s indictment accusing Mr. Warner of taking a bribe in exchange for helping South Africa secure the right to host the 2010 World Cup.

檢方稱有人在2008年將1000萬美元從FIFA轉到另一名足球官員傑克·沃納(Jack Warner)控制的多個賬戶，而這些官員透露，此處所指的“FIFA高級官員”就是FIFA祕書長傑羅姆·瓦爾克(Jérôme Valcke)。這筆支付交易是上週指控沃納的起訴書中的核心內容。沃納被指控受賄並幫助南非獲得了2010年的世界盃主辦權。

The indictment does not say that the high-ranking official knew that the money was being used as a bribe and, unlike many other FIFA officials and marketing executives, Mr. Valcke is not identified as a co-conspirator in the document. Danny Jordaan, the chief executive of South Africa’s World Cup bid and the current president of its soccer federation, has said the money was not a bribe but a legitimate payment into a soccer development fund in the Caribbean.

起訴書中沒有說這名高級官員知道這些錢被用作賄賂，此外，與其他許多FIFA官員和營銷高管不同，瓦爾克在本案的材料中沒有被列爲本案同謀。南非世界盃組委會首席執行官丹尼·喬達安(Danny Jordaan)表示，這筆錢不是賄賂，而是給加勒比地區一個足球發展基金的合法付款。

Mr. Valcke, who said in a brief email that he had not authorized the payment and did not have the power to do so, has not been charged or accused of wrongdoing.

瓦爾克在一封簡短的電子郵件中稱，他並未批准這筆款項，而且也無權這麼做。他尚未受到受到行爲失當的指控或指責。

Mr. Valcke and Mr. Blatter are the two top officials in FIFA, an organization that has more than $1 billion in the bank and generates billions more each year. Mr. Valcke’s involvement is sure to raise more questions about what Mr. Blatter knew about the money transfer. The officials and others who identified Mr. Valcke spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.

瓦爾克和布拉特是FIFA級別最高的兩名官員。該組織擁有逾10億美元銀行存款，此外每年還能產生數十億美元。瓦爾克的參與，必定會讓人們對布拉特是否知曉前述資金轉移產生更多疑問。由於無權討論相關調查，指明瓦爾克身份的官員和其他人在匿名條件下發表了言論。

Mr. Valcke’s statement that he did not authorize the wire transfer does not directly address whether he was involved. The indictment says the unidentified official “caused” the payments to be made. And a spokeswoman for FIFA, Delia Fischer, said the chairman of the finance committee at the time, Julio Grondona, authorized the payment. Mr. Grondona died last year. Ms. Fischer said the payment was “executed in accordance with the Organisation Regulations.”

瓦爾克稱自己沒有授權電匯，但聲明中並未直接表明自己是否曾參與此事。起訴書稱，身份不明的官員“促成了”這筆款項的支付。FIFA女發言人德利婭·費希爾(Delia Fischer)稱，批准這筆款項的是當時的財務委員會主席、已於去年過世的胡利奧·格龍多納(Julio Grondona)。費希爾稱，這筆錢是“在符合組織規程的情況下支付的”。

Those regulations say the secretary general is responsible for maintaining the organization’s accounts and has the authority to make transactions.

根據這些規程，打理FIFA賬戶是祕書長的職責，而且祕書長還有進行交易的權力。

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn brought charges last week against 14 soccer officials and marketing executives accused of corrupting FIFA, the governing body of international soccer. United States authorities have said more charges are expected and have promised to rid the organization of corruption.

上週，布魯克林的聯邦檢察官對14名足球官員和營銷高管提出指控，這些人涉嫌腐化國際足球運動的管理機構FIFA。美國官員曾表示還會有更多指控出現，並承諾要根除這個組織的腐敗。

The $10 million payment, made in three wire transfers in January and March 2008, is described in the indictment in paragraph No. 192 and has prompted questions about which top FIFA executive was responsible. “Definitely that is not me,” Mr. Blatter said last week after he was re-elected as FIFA’s president and reporters asked if he was the unidentified official. “I have no $10 million.”

這筆1000萬美元的款項，是在2008年1月到3月間通過三次電匯完成的。起訴書的第192段描述了此事，並使人們對哪位FIFA高管應對此事負責產生了疑問。“絕對不是我，” 布拉特在上週重新當選FIFA主席之後，被記者問到他是否是那位身份不明的官員時表示。“我沒有1000萬美元。”

The charges, which were unsealed last Wednesday morning in United States District Court in Brooklyn, coupled with the arrests at dawn of several high-ranking FIFA officials at a luxury hotel in Zurich, were stunning even by the standards of international soccer, which has been dogged by allegations of corruption for years. Swiss authorities also raided FIFA’s headquarters as part of a separate investigation into how FIFA chose the host countries for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

上週三上午，布魯克林聯邦地區法院(Federal District Court)公佈了相關指控，還有幾名高層FIFA官員於黎明時分在蘇黎世的一家豪華酒店被捕。即便以國際足球的標準衡量，這些指控都令人震驚；數年來，國際足球一直深受腐敗指控困擾。FIFA挑選2018年和2022年世界盃主辦國的過程也被另案調查，瑞士當局爲此突查FIFA總部。

Mr. Valcke, of France, has previously been involved in financial controversy. He joined FIFA in 2003 as its marketing director but was fired in December 2006 after a New York judge ruled that he and others lied repeatedly in negotiations with MasterCard and Visa over a sponsorship deal.

法國的瓦爾克此前曾因爲財務問題陷入糾紛。2003年，他加入FIFA擔任市場總監，但是於2006年12月被解僱。原因是一名紐約法官做出裁決，包括他在內的一些人在與萬事達卡(MasterCard)和Visa卡就一項贊助協議進行談判時曾反覆撒謊。

“The fact cannot be overlooked that FIFA’s negotiations breached its business principles,” FIFA said in its news release at the time. “FIFA cannot possibly accept such conduct among its own employees.”

“FIFA的談判違背了其商業原則，這個事實不容忽視，”FIFA在當時發佈的新聞稿中說。“FIFA無法接受自己的工作人員存在這種行爲。”

A federal appeals court threw out the ruling the next May. The next month, days after FIFA reached a settlement with MasterCard, Mr. Blatter chose Mr. Valcke to be secretary general, the organization’s No. 2 post. Mr. Valcke was never charged with a crime in that case.

次年5月，一個聯邦上訴法庭推翻了此項裁決。接下來的一個月，在FIFA與萬事達卡達成和解數日之後，布拉特選擇瓦爾克作爲祕書長——FIFA的二號職務。瓦爾克從未因爲此案受到犯罪指控。

In an interview with the Sunday Independent, a South African newspaper, Mr. Jordaan said the timing of the payment proved that it could not have been a bribe. “How could we have paid a bribe for votes four years after we had won the bid?” he said.

在接受南非《星期日獨立報》(Sunday Independent)採訪時，喬達安說，這筆付款的時間證明，它不可能是行賄。他說，“我們怎麼會在贏得主辦權四年之後再去爲了拉票而行賄呢？”

American prosecutors, however, say the bribery scheme played out over several years. In 2004, as FIFA’s executive committee considered where to host the 2010 World Cup, South Africa’s government agreed to pay Mr. Warner and others $10 million in exchange for their votes, according to the indictment.

然而，美國檢方稱，這場賄賂陰謀跨越了好幾年。起訴書稱，2004年FIFA執行委員會考慮2010年世界盃舉辦地時，南非政府同意支付沃爾納等人1000萬美元，以換取他們的投票支持。

Mr. Warner voted for South Africa, but in the months and years after the vote, South Africa was unable to pay. So rather than take a payment directly from South Africa, the indictment says, FIFA itself paid Mr. Warner in 2008, using money that would otherwise have gone to South Africa to support the World Cup.

沃爾納把票投給了南非，但在投票後的數年裏，南非一直未能支付這筆錢。起訴書稱，沃爾納沒有從南非直接得到這筆錢，而是FIFA本身把錢給他的。這筆錢本來是要提供給南非，以支持其舉辦世界盃。

In effect, the indictment says the bribe was paid on the back end of the deal, so South Africa received $10 million less from FIFA than it otherwise would have.

起訴書稱，實際上，這筆資金是在交易之後支付的，南非從FIFA獲得的資金因此少了1000萬美元。

Mr. Jordaan said the money was sent to the accounts of Concacaf, a FIFA entity that oversees soccer in North and Central America, as part of South Africa’s effort to support soccer there. Mr. Warner was Concacaf’s president at the time and controlled the accounts. Prosecutors say he took much of the $10 million for his personal use. Mr. Warner has maintained his innocence and said the United States brought the charges because it lost the bidding to host the 2022 World Cup.

喬達安說，這筆款項被存入中北美和加勒比地區足聯(Concacaf)的賬戶，作爲南非對當地足球事業的支持。中北美和加勒比地區足聯是FIFA下屬機構，管理着中北美洲足壇。沃爾納當時是中北美和加勒比地區足聯主席，管理着這些賬戶。檢方稱，沃爾納個人使用了這1000萬美元的很大一部分錢。沃爾納堅稱自己是無辜的，他說美國提出這些指控是因爲它申辦2022年世界盃失敗了。

FIFA announced Monday that, “due to the current situation,” Mr. Valcke would not attend the opening of the Women’s World Cup in Canada next week. “It is important that he attends to matters at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich,” the organization said in a news release.

FIFA週一宣佈，“由於目前的狀況，”瓦爾克將不會參加下週在加拿大舉行的女足世界盃開幕式。該組織在一份新聞通稿中說，“他需要處理FIFA在蘇黎世總部的事務。”