A FIFA staff has been linked to a $90m ugly practice of tickets racketing in the ongoing Brazil World Cup. According to Rio police, they have identified the first name of a FIFA employee who helped illegally resell World Cup tickets, including some originally allocated to players.
The police said they have identified a Fifa official allegedly involved in a $90 million ticket scandal. An investigation earlier this week led to the arrest of 11 suspected ticket touts, and police claim they have identified the first name of the FIFA employee who helped illegally resell World Cup tickets.
The suspected ringleader of the ticket scandal was named as Mohamadou Lamine Fofana, an Algerian man who had stayed at the Copacabana Palace hotel with top FIFA executives.
The suspected official, said Rio police investigator Fabio Barucke, enjoys clearance for FIFA offices, stadiums and other administrative areas where he would have access to game tickets. The official, Barucke added, is not a Brazilian but in the country for the World Cup.
Reacting, FIFA released a statement on Thursday night saying they will assist Brazilian security authorities in identifying the source. But Barucke believes Fofana is only middleman with the ticket source “someone higher up” the chain.
“He [Fofana] has tickets from hospitality, from Match, and he was close friend with someone from FIFA who was in the middle of that negotiation – who was helping out with that negotiation. We were able to identify there is the participation of someone from FIFA.” As investigation is ongoing, FIFA spokeswoman, Delia Fischer claimed they are still awaiting information from the Brazilian police identifying the official who allegedly helped the ring. “Maybe it’s not from FIFA. It’s often easy to come to a conclusion about who is FIFA.”