With every passing day, week, and month, #FIFAGate stories become increasingly difficult to believe, due to the sheer scale of drama and scandal involved.
Now, Colombian daily newspaper El Tiempo is reporting that FBI officials have discovered a secret bank account that Luis Bedoya – ex-president of the Colombian Football Federation, vice president of CONMEBOL, and member of FIFA’s Executive Committee – used to move nearly a million dollars. ONE MILLION DOLLARS!
Bedoya resigned from his position as the head of Colombian fútbol early last month amid allegations linking him to #FIFAGate. It is believed that the discovery of this account was one of the main reasons behind his decision to renounce his position and head to New York in an effort to collaborate with authorities there and in turn receive a lesser punishment for his undoubtedly numerous wrongdoings (this, of course, after assuring investigators that he had accounted for all of his personal accounts and those of the Colombian federation earlier this year).
According to the article, upon this most recent finding of a huge boatload of unaccounted-for money, Bedoya told investigators that his only mistake was not having declared the clandestine account to tax authorities. He added that the money deposited in the account amounted to nothing more than his monthly salary of $10,000 as Vice President of CONMEBOL.
This is all a bit difficult to believe because, well, Bedoya simply never talked about this account. Also, the FBI has access to a history of account transactions in addition to declarations from other South American fútbol hotshots who stated that they had received under-the-table bribes from businesses with TV rights to confederacy tournament matches, both of which are sure to damage Bedoya’s finely crafted script. It’s worth mentioning that that hidden bonus was paid in cash too (quite telling, no?).
Oh, FIFA. You never cease to amaze me with your endless corruption schemes. I find it very sad that although these emerging details are increasingly difficult to believe, not a single one of them surprises me in the slightest. This is, after all, what we’ve come to expect from the bodies that govern the sport we all love and hold so dear to our hearts.