FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke Suspended

The No 2 to FIFA President Sepp Blatter, Jerome Valcke has been suspended as general secretary until an investigation into allegations that he was central to a ticket touting operation at the 2014 World Cup is concluded.

If this claim is true, what it means is that such an agreement has breach FIFA's ticketing rules as well as represent a conflict of interest. A FIFA statement was released late last night to this it effect and it reads: “FIFA today announced that its Secretary General Jerome Valcke has been put on leave and released from his duties effective immediately until further notice. Further, FIFA has been made aware of a series of allegations involving the Secretary General and has requested a formal investigation by the FIFA Ethics Committee.

FIFA has been under a lot of different corruption allegations these latest allegations have been made by Benny Alon, a former footballer who has worked in sports ticketing and hospitality for decades, including at every World Cup since 1990.  Alon was working as a consultant to a firm called JB Sports Marketing (JBSM) when that company signed a contract with FIFA in April 2010 to buy 8,750 tickets for the 2014 World Cup for sale to the hospitality market, across 24 different games. It was stipulated in the contract that JBSM would select 12 of the matches for which they would get tickets and that FIFA would select 12 matches.

Valcke and Alon were friends as well as business associates and in a meeting in Valcke's office in March 2013, Alon alleges that Valcke asked him if he was happy with JBSM's 2014 deal and Alon replied that he would like to be able to select all 24 games and later that year, in July 2013, Alon sent Valcke an update on sales, saying he could sell his whole inventory, such was the demand. As it transpired, Alon says that FIFA realized they should not have agreed to allow JBSM to sell any tickets, because there was already a company named Match and the company had paid for the rights to do that officially.

 Alon says that Valcke then asked JBSM for a favour - that JBSM would cancel their April 2010 agreement over 8,750 tickets with FIFA, and instead enter into a new deal with Match, that would circumvent that problem. There was also a complicated issue under Brazilian law whereby only certain types of companies could deal in certain tickets - another reason that FIFA wanted JBSM to enter into a direct contract with Match. Alon told Valcke he would seek legal advice. In an email from Valcke to Alon on 12 December 2013, Valcke wrote: 'Benny, if you ask lawyers about [it] nothing will happen. You, we, have no choice. Otherwise [your] deal will be canceled by FIFA or we all face as individuals criminal offense. It is not a joke. It is very serious. So avoid too many advices”.

When Match took full control of JBSM's ticket needs, Alon says the tickets he was contracted to receive did not all arrive. None of the tickets outlined by Valcke in his FIFA letter of April 2013 came through. Valcke was never paid any money by Alon. A statement from Valcke's US-based lawyers said he denied all the accusations.

The statement said: 'Jerome Valcke unequivocally denies the fabricated and outrageous accusations by Benny Alon of alleged wrongdoing in connection with the sale of World Cup tickets. Mr Valcke never received or agreed to accept any money or anything else of value from Mr Alon. As has been reported, FIFA entered into an agreement with Mr Alon's company, JB Sports Marketing. That agreement and FIFA's subsequent business dealings with Mr. Alon were vetted and approved by FIFA and its legal counsel”.

SOURCE: SportMail