US to anti-money body: Delete soccer warning

Several countries including the US told a global anti-money laundering organization that they should delete the public warning it had given last June to various financial institutions regarding corruption in soccer.

According to people knowledgeable of the matter, several anti-money laundering officials in the US communicated with US Treasury delegates to the those delegates in Paris in order to convey their concern when the Financial Action Task Force issued the warning. The American representatives then asked that the warning should be deleted.

The anti-money laundering organization's steering committee supported the demand as well as representatives from France, the UK and Russia. The decision of the committee during the meeting in Australia last June was to take off the public warning. However, this decision was not made known to the public, a source said.

The US delegates of the Financial Action Task Force thought that issuing the public warning was not appropriate because it is not part of what they have agreed upon. Banks handling transactions related to FIFA payments are placing more-than-usual examination although the source person claims that these examinations also have restrictions.

Reuters said that officials of the organization did not release any comment regarding the matter while a representative of the Treasury gave a delayed response.

The warning, according to the Treasury, was issued in the time of corruption accusation of the 9 soccer officials and 5 business executives. The charges also included money laundering, bribery and wire fraud. The warning said that banks should increase their inspection of these soccer-related customers because financial institutions are not doing enough to control these financial activities by soccer officials.

Included in the statement released by the FATF was that it appears that financial institutions are not giving ample investigations in the accused officials' financial activities since these financial transfers were able to pass through unnoticed by international financial system.