Criminals are increasingly using football for money laundering and tax evasion, helped by the globalisation of the sport and financial needs of clubs, an anti-corruption body said on Wednesday. The world's most popular sport is attracting criminals with its huge cross-border money transfers and often obscure accounting methods, a unit of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a report. "Football clubs are indeed seen by criminals as the perfect vehicles for money laundering", the OECD's Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said. While other sports like cricket, rugby, horse racing or motor racing were also under threat, football was "an obvious candidate to examine money laundering through sport" because it dwarfed all the others in its global scale. (...) Based on 20 cases of money laundering in football, the report concluded that the structure, financing and culture of the sport are all conducive to financial crimes. (...) Boosted by lucrative television rights, the amount of money in football has exploded, turning venerable clubs into massive business enterprises. The heady sums paid for top players reached new heights last month when Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo completed a record 80 million pound transfer to Real Madrid. (...) The sport's image also plays a role. Clubs are less likely to report money laundering for fear of losing sponsors, while criminals may use ownership of a club to forge legal business ties and win lucrative construction contracts. (aqui)
(2009)
No comments:
Post a Comment