The 11 Fifa executive committee members who took newly crowned president Sepp Blatter to court on charges of corruption have withdrawn their legal action it was announced here on Friday.
The decision to drop the charges, which were filed with a Zurich prosecutor earlier this month, was taken at an emergency executive committee meeting.
At the same meeting, Fifa whistle blower, general secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen, was ousted by football’s governing body. Zen-Ruffinen, the World Cup’s chief organiser, to leave immediately, but friends close to the president, fearing his immediate departure would throw the organisation of the World Cup into chaos, talked him out of it.
Instead Zen-Ruffinen will leave Fifa on July 4 – fours day after the World Cup final in Yokohama.
”The Fifa Executive Committee, meeting in Seoul on the opening day of the 2002 Fifa World Cup Korea/Japan, has reached an agreement with Fifa General Secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen, with regard to their contractual relationship.
”It was mutually agreed that this relationship should end on 4 July 2002.
”Those present at the meeting of the 11 executive committee members who had initiated legal proceedings against Fifa President Joseph S Blatter agreed to withdraw the action immediately,” said Fifa on their website.
The executive committee’s legal action was filed after receiving an explosive report from Zen-Ruffinen on May 3.
In the report, the 44-year-old outlined allegations of a trail of deception, mismanagement, illegal payments and cronyism against Blatter.
The 21-page dossier stamped ‘strictly confidential’ revealed a secret presidential group within football’s governing body that was answerable only to Blatter, in contravention of Fifa statutes.
Zen-Ruffinen later accused Blatter of running a reign of terror and charged that the financial figures put before the Fifa congress gave a misleading impression of the real state of the organisation’s finances.
The general secretary’s report and his outspoken comments stunned Blatter and he made clear his feelings about Zen-Ruffinen after his crushing victory over sole rival Issa Hayatou to win another four years as president at Wednesday’s presidential election.
”He is in trouble,” said Blatter immediately afterwards.
A defiant Zen-Ruffinen said he had no plans to quit. ”I won’t resign,” he said. ”Why should I?”
But he knew he was doomed when European soccer boss and one of the 11 vice-presidents who has started the legal action against Blatter, Lennart Johansson, said on Thursday he could not help save his job.
Friday’s drama proves that Blatter is firmly back in charge of Fifa. The majority of the new 24-man executive committee are pro-Blatter unlike the previous committee.
After his election victory, Blatter said he would deliver a plan to reorganise the organisation within 100 days. Sources say a major shake-up of how Fifa is run will be carried out. – Sapa-AFP