FIFA files criminal complaint over museum against former president Sepp Blatter

Former president, Sepp Blatter has gotten himself on the wrong end of the stick once again as FIFA says it has filed a criminal complaint about the finances of its loss-making football museum in Zurich.

On Tuesday, the World football’s governing body said it suspected criminal mismanagement by FIFA’s former bosses and companies appointed by them to work on the museum – long seen as a pet project of Blatter’s – in a renovated and rented city centre building.

The FIFA World Football Museum was commissioned in 2016, costing $140m (£104.2m) to refurbish the 1970s office building which also includes 34 rental apartments.

It was intended to open around May 2015, when Blatter won a fifth presidential election but was delayed until after he left office under pressure from American and Swiss investigations of international football officials.

The football’s world body said Blatter committed FIFA to a rental contract with the building’s owner, insurance firm Swiss Life, that requires paying $360m (£267.8m) through 2045 at above market rates.

A statement by FIFA read: “Following a detailed review of historic facts and circumstances concerning the construction and on-going operational costs of the FIFA Museum, FIFA has become aware of many serious irregularities regarding this project, which raise strong suspicions of criminal misconduct on the part of various different officials and companies associated with the matter.

“As a result, FIFA is now duty-bound to refer the matter to the Zurich prosecutor’s office for further investigation and, if necessary, prosecution.

“The criminal complaint filed by FIFA is directed against various members of the former FIFA management, including former president Joseph Blatter, as well as further ‘unknown’ potential suspects.

“It is suspected that these individuals may have been involved in various acts of criminal mismanagement, and possibly other related offences.”

FIFA stated in the documents filed that their former management “repeatedly misled different FIFA bodies as to the cost and viability of the project”, including the existence of alternative sites and also alleges “grave conflicts of interest” and “suspected nepotism” in relation to the project.

Blatter’s lawyer, Lorenz Erni said: “The accusations are baseless and are vehemently repudiated”.

While already a suspect in two criminal proceedings opened by federal prosecutors into how he spent FIFA’s money as president, Blatter risks investigation at local level as well.

FIFA confirmed in its financial reports then that museum has made a loss each year, including $50m (£37.2m) in 2016 that included one-off costs.

The most recent FIFA accounts for 2019 show almost $3.5m (£2.6m) revenue from the FIFA World Football Museum and $6.3m (£4.7m) costs for investment and expenses. There was a record 161,700 visitors at the Zurich building in 2016.

FIFA also said on Tuesday that files on the museum project would be sent to its ethics investigators.