Photo of Jean-Marie Weber Picture: Jens Weinreich

‘Trust me, I’m a reporter,’ says the Bagman

Photo of Jean-Marie Weber with back turned to camera Picture: Jens Weinreich

Weber still in business, working in the Olympic Museum

Photo of Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose, BBC sports editor

Photo of Mihir Bose and Seb Coe

Bose grills Lord Coe

Photo of Mihir Bose and Seb Coe

I think he likes me

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The things they say...

‘Neither FIFA nor its President have anything to hide, nor do they wish to.’

Blatter press release, 28 January, 2003

BBC Panorama Reporter Andy Davies:

‘A one million franc bribe … is it not correct that Mr Blatter asked that it be moved to the FIFA official who was named on the payment slip?’

FIFA Director of Communications Markus Siegler:

‘If you do not stop now, then we call the security and we put you out.’

FIFA Press conference, Zurich, Tuesday, 11 April 2006

‘I am deputy chairman of the finance committee of FIFA. I oversee a budget of US$2 billion and I have never seen one iota of corruption.’

Jack Warner, Trinidad Express 12 December 2004

‘Lying and deception and bad faith are standard operating procedure at FIFA.’

Adam C. Silverstein, a lawyer for MasterCard in their successful action against FIFA, New York, December 1, 2006

‘I do not believe a Jew can ever be a referee at that level (Argentine Premier League) because it’s hard work and, you know, Jews don’t like hard work.’

FIFA senior vice-president and chair of Finance Committee, Julio Grondona, 5 July 2003. Buenos Aires

‘FIFA is a healthy, clean and transparent organisation with nothing to hide. There is huge public interest in FIFA, therefore we have to be as transparent as possible. We will try to communicate in a more open way so the world can believe us and be proud of their federation.’

FIFA General Secretary Urs Linsi, January 2003, on fifa.com

 

Olympic Reporters' Secret Club

By Andrew Jennings

 

Sunday 21 June, 2009

 

Swiss bagman Jean-Marie Weber who admitted in court last year that he paid $100 million in kickbacks to sports officials in return for lucrative marketing contracts was at it again in Lausanne last week, schmoozing wannabee Olympic 2016 hosts Chicago, Rio, Madrid and Tokyo.

 

 

What a great story for Britain’s Olympic reporters. But they haven’t published a word. Why can this be?

 

 

Transparency in sport has obtained the membership list of the self-styled Olympic Journalists Association – the OJA. Astonishingly, Bagman Weber is a member - alongside the BBC’s lethargic sports editor Mihir Bose and three of his specialist reporters.

 

 

Telegraph sports editor David Bond has also signed up to the OJA with two of his hacks. The Times is there and so are AP’s Steve Wilson and Reuters’ Karolos Grohmann. Between them they dominate international reporting on Olympic politics and money.

 

 

Bagman Weber isn’t the only OJA member from the Dark Side of the Olympic business. Step forward tickets and rooms operator Sead Dizdarevic, boss of New Jersey company Jet Set Travel.

 

 

Mr Dizdarevic admitted to the Feds that he handed over bags of cash in hotels and airports that were laundered to IOC members demanding bribes in return for giving the 2002 Winter Games to Salt Lake City. That didn’t harm his relationship with the ‘Olympic Movement,’ as they call it. Now he’s got a big chunk of London 2012. Mr Dizdarevic is not known to have worked as a journalist.

 

 

Another OJA member and former colleague of Jean-Marie Weber is John Boulter a key member of Lord Coe’s bidding team for London 2012, tasked to win over recalcitrant IOC members.

 

 

A French fixer colleague of Boulter and Bagman Weber for several decades - likewise a stranger to journalism - has also been accepted by the OJA hacks. Bell-Pottinger’s sports subsidiary have their man in there as well as consultant Jon Tibbs who boosted the successful Beijing and Sochi bids.

 

 

The American interest at the OJA is represented by NBC reporter Alan Abrahamson together with top NBC-TV fixer official Peter Diamond. Also in the OJA is the Atlanta lawyer and lobbyist who was so good at suitcasing thousands of dollars in cash to Florida for a Jamaican IOC member that he’s now welcome everywhere.

 

 

What did John Boulter do for Seb Coe? (Private Eye - May 29, 2009)

 

Trouble for Seb’s pal (Private Eye - June 12, 2009)

 

 

 

 

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