The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) appears to have identified in a new report on football what it believes to be evidence of money laundering, systematic avoidance of taxation and the potential for criminal activity by gamblers and those seeking to buy English clubs. A full version of the report can be found here:
http://www.fatf-gafi.org/document/20/0,3343,en_32250379_32237202_43216660_1_1_1_1,00.html
Examples of how the document was reported can be found here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8127790.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/feedarticle/8586572
http://www.espnstar.com/football/news/detail/item288619/Report-warns-of-crime-in-football/
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hJve-7AR_iiCHfRuSBHz7Vh8s64A
Just how accurate is the report, and by how much should we be worried? Is there the potential for criminal activity in football to take place? Is it happening already? If so, what is the scale of the problem? (Are there owners, managers and players who are clearly under suspicion?) If not, just how close are we to it becoming a real threat? Why is it that English football is apparently so ripe for pillaging by unscrupulous individuals and groups? Is this fundamentally a governance issue? Are the governance systems in place within sports organisations fit-for-purpose? Is it really a case of 19th Century systems trying to cope with 21st Century challenges? Or is the perceived problem more one of club ownership structures? In countries like Germany, where the ownership of clubs is much more tightly controlled, is it that similar fears about criminal activity are so intense? Or is this indeed a peculiarly English problem? irrespective, if FATF is correct, then what preventative measures could be employed to address the problem?
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