FIFA sacks top official over bonuses worth millions
ZURICH, Switzerland (AFP) — FIFA on Monday sacked deputy general secretary Markus Kattner for financial ‘breaches’ involving secret bonuses worth millions of dollars, according to sources close to an inquiry by the world body.
Kattner’s downfall topples another member of ex-president Sepp Blatter’s inner circle at football’s world body.
Kattner, a 45-year-old German-Swiss national, had been acting general secretary after previous general secretary Jerome Valcke was also dismissed for irregularities.
“Kattner has been dismissed from his position effective immediately,” the world body said in a statement.
“FIFA’s internal investigation uncovered breaches of his fiduciary responsibilities in connection with his employment contract,” it added.
“There was enough to determine there was a breach of his responsibilities and to take action against Mr Kattner,” a source close to an internal FIFA investigation told AFP.
“We are talking about significant sums of money, millions of dollars,” the source added.
The source said the money came from bonuses under a contract whose terms were kept secret from FIFA’s audit committees.
The internal FIFA inquiry, carried out by the Quinn Emanuel law firm, “covers the period from 2008 to 2014,” the source said.
“There was sufficient evidence to demonstrate shortcomings in his fiduciary responsibilities and to take action,” the same source revealed, adding that “only a small group of people knew about these payments”.
According to another source familiar with the workings of FIFA, these bonuses would have been approved by the world body’s financial committee, who decided how much the president, general secretary and deputy general secretary were paid.
The president of this committee was former FIFA finance chief Julio Grondona, an Argentine and close ally of Blatter. Grondona died aged 82 in 2014 and has been largely implicated in the scandal which has embroiled FIFA over the past year.
“FIFA will not comment further on any of the details, but will continue its cooperation with the relevant authorities,” said the FIFA statement.
The Swiss justice ministry, meanwhile, told AFP that “as of today, Mr M Kattner is not under investigation” by prosecutors.
