2014年经济学人 国际足联与腐败 非礼勿听

FIFA and corruption²

Hear no evil

Football's governing body is struggling to silence its critics

AUTOCRATIC Russia and sweltering Qatar won the rights to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups fair and square, after a generally clean and honest bidding process. There might have been dodgy dealing³, perhaps even criminal behaviour, on the part of a few of those involved—but not enough to justify⁴ rerunning the bids.

That, at least , is according to FIFA, world football's governing body. On November 13th it described the results of an internal investigation⁵ into the bidding process as having mostly cleared itself and the host countries of wrongdoing. Nevertheless, on November 18th it said that it was handing the report from that probe over to Swiss authorities because it may have uncovered criminal activity (as yet unspecified).

The investigation into the bidding process had been led by Michael Garcia, an American lawyer, who submitted over 400 pages of findings to FIFA's ethics⁶ committee in September. His report was then reviewed by Hans-Joachim Eckert, a German judge who heads the committee's adjudicatory chamber⁷ (pictured right, with Mr Garcia). It was not published, despite pleas from some FIFA officials and Mr Garcia himself. Instead Mr Eckert released his own summary, which Mr Garcia has described as “incomplete and erroneous”. Two whistle-blowers have since said that Mr Eckert tarnished⁸ and misrepresented them. Mr Garcia has appealed against Mr Eckert's interpretation⁹ of his report—to another FIFA committee.

Ever since Russia and Qatar won the hosting rights in 2010, there have been allegations of funny business. Several FIFA officials involved have since stepped down under a cloud. In June the Sunday Times, a British newspaper, published e-mails detailing lavish¹⁰ campaigning by Mohamed bin¹¹ Hammam, a disgraced former FIFA bigwig from Qatar, ahead of the vote for his country. Lord Triesman, who led England's bid for the 2018 tournament, has said FIFA officials asked him for bribes¹².

So it may seem odd that England was the country most harshly criticised by Mr Eckert. Its bid committee had accommodated unethical requests from corrupt¹ FIFA officials, he said. Qatar, too, had committed some violations¹³, but according to Mr Eckert its actions “were, all in all, not suited to compromise the integrity” of the process. Russia was let off the hook, even though investigators¹⁴ had limited access to its documents because the computers its officials used had been destroyed.

Dismayed by the findings and the lack of transparency, some football officials are daring to peek¹⁵ above the parapet. Mr Eckert's summary was “a joke”, says Greg Dyke¹⁶, the chairman of England's Football Association. His predecessor¹⁷, David Bernstein, has called for UEFA, European football's governing body, to boycott¹⁸ the World Cup in protest. Reinhard Rauball, the head of Germany's soccer federation¹⁹, has suggested that UEFA might leave FIFA if Mr Garcia's full findings are not published.

But a European rebellion seems unlikely. Michel Platini, the head of UEFA, who has himself had to deny allegations of corruption, voted for Qatar. Europe's football associations benefit from hosting World Cup qualifiers and the sponsorship deals that come with playing on the tournament's big stage. Poorer nations are even less likely to challenge FIFA, as they benefit from its handouts²⁰. The money sloshing around feeds a perception that at least some of it is used to buy favours or votes.

Despite not having read Mr Garcia's report, Sepp Blatter, the 78-year-old head of FIFA, insists his organisation²¹ is clean: “If we had anything to hide, we would hardly be taking this matter to the [Swiss authorities].” But the Swiss benefit from FIFA's presence in Zurich. A greater threat may come from the Americans. The FBI is investigating allegations of corruption against FIFA, and Mr Garcia can still recommend cases against individual officials.

After Mr Eckert's summary, FIFA said that “a degree of closure has been reached”. That depends on the sponsors. If they start to abandon FIFA and its World Cup, it will prove wishful thinking.

From the print edition: Intenational

1 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

2 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

3 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

4 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

5 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

6 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

7 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

8 tarnished   

（通常指金属）（使）失去光泽，（使）变灰暗( tarnish的过去式和过去分词 )； 玷污，败坏

参考例句：

• The mirrors had tarnished with age. 这些镜子因年深日久而照影不清楚。
• His bad behaviour has tarnished the good name of the school. 他行为不轨，败坏了学校的声誉。

9 interpretation   

n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理

参考例句：

• His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
• Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。

10 lavish   

adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍

参考例句：

• He despised people who were lavish with their praises.他看不起那些阿谀奉承的人。
• The sets and costumes are lavish.布景和服装极尽奢华。

11 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

12 bribes   

n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• corrupt officials accepting bribes 接受贿赂的贪官污吏

13 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

14 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 peek   

vi.偷看，窥视；n.偷偷的一看，一瞥

参考例句：

• Larry takes a peek out of the window.赖瑞往窗外偷看了一下。
• Cover your eyes and don't peek.捂上眼睛，别偷看。

16 dyke   

n.堤，水坝，排水沟

参考例句：

• If one sheep leap over the dyke,all the rest will follow.一只羊跳过沟，其余的羊也跟着跳。
• One ant-hole may cause the collapse of a thousand-li dyke.千里长堤，溃于蚁穴。

17 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

18 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

19 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

20 handouts   

救济品( handout的名词复数 )； 施舍物； 印刷品； 讲义

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts. 士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Even after losing his job, he was too proud to accept handouts. 甚至在失去工作后，他仍然很骄傲，不愿接受施舍。

21 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。