Brazilian corruption investigation presents new headache for Fifa

Fifa is bracing itself for the emergence of a fresh corruption scandal as its Brazilian executive committee member, Ricardo Teixeira, is the subject of a money-laundering investigation in his home country. Mark Pieth, the first chairman of Fifa's new independent governance committee, said on Wednesday that he will not himself conduct inquiries into past wrongdoing since it would be "professionally unsound" to attempt to persuade officials to improve governance procedures while also investigating them. That role, he said – in comments confirmed by a Fifa source – has been left to the former FBI director Louis Freeh. Teixeira denies wrongdoing. Even if Teixeira survives the Brazilian inquiry unscathed there also remains the threat to Fifa that documents detailing bribes allegedly paid to two of its high-ranking officials by its former marketing partners International Sport and Leisure will be released by the Swiss courts. The courts have so far permitted the officials' identities to be suppressed.