LONDON — Interpol will return about a quarter of the money it has received from FIFA, POLITICO has learned.
The scandal-plagued soccer governing body pledged to give €20 million to Interpol in 2011 over a 10-year period to help fight corruption in sport. So far, the law enforcement organization has received €11 million. About €3 million of that total has not yet been spent, and that is this sum that it is planning to give back.
The decision follows unwanted attention about FIFA’s close ties with Interpol, which has taken a back seat in the corruption probe led by U.S. and Swiss authorities. Robert Barrington, executive director of Transparency International, called on Interpol to return the funds in an interview Friday.
“Interpol must look into its heart and decide whether it is right to keep the money that has come from an apparently corrupt source,” he said. “It is up to Interpol to justify keeping the money. The burden of proof lies with Interpol.”
Barrington pointed out that when the deal was agreed, FIFA had already been under extensive investigation for corruption.
Interpol spokesman Pietro Calcaterra rejected suggestions that the full sum should now be repaid, rather than just a portion. “The money has been used for the purpose for which it was intended,” he said.
Following a POLITICO report last week, Interpol has published the details of all of its private funding arrangements.
This includes a €15 million deal with Philip Morris International, the American tobacco giant; $4.5 million from 29 of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies; and, notably, €700,000 from the Qatar World Cup 2022 campaign.
Interpol says that it currently has no plans to repay any of this money. But according to the spokesman, the private partnership strategy has been under general review since the Interpol General Assembly in Colombia, in October 2013. The process is open-ended.
“There will be milestones and developments,” the Interpol spokesman said. “It is a work in progress. We don’t operate in a perfect world. The review process continues.”
He highlighted that since the appointment in November of the new Secretary-General, Jürgen Stock, the private partnership strategy has been given “new impetus”.
“This is a bigger picture review process,” he said.
Concerns have previously been raised about the close relationship between the previous Secretary-General, Ronald Noble, and the private sector.
Former INTERPOL Secretary-General Ronald K. Noble (R) and FIFA Director of Security Ralf Mutschke (L) discuss before a press conference after the closing ceremony of the INTERPOL conference – ‘Match fixing: The Ugly Side of the Beautiful Game’ in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, February 21, 2013. EPA
The German publication Die Zeit reported that in 2011, the same year in which the FIFA deal was signed, Noble had attended a closed-doors meeting with the Dolder Group, “a highly secretive think-tank of the pharmaceutical industry”.
According to Die Zeit, at the meeting Noble said: “I have to admit Interpol is often portrayed as a villain, who defends the interests of the industry.” The €4.5 million deal with the pharmaceutical industry was signed two years later.
Noble could not be reached for comment.