Lawmakers in Switzerland are poised to pass a set of new laws that would tighten the oversight of the approximately 60 sports-based organizations in the country, including FIFA, soccer’sworld governing body, as well as the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The first of the new laws would treat FIFA President Sepp Blatter and IOC head Thomas Bach as“politically exposed persons,” meaning that Swiss regulators would be free to regard them as officials whose posts could be used to launder money. According to Reuters, Swiss banksare required by law to ensure that funds are not of a suspicious order before they accept them, but at the moment, sports organizations are exempt from this.
The second of the new laws, whichare collectively being called “Lex FIFA,” is to make FIFA and other sports bodies subject to new money-laundering laws drawn up by the EU’s Financial Action Task Force, based inParis. Currently Swiss-based sports bodies are exempt. However, Reuters claims that this law is unlikely to enter force until 2017 due to the slow nature of the Swiss lawmaking process. A thirdmeasure, which aims to tackle game-fixing, is also likely years away, the report says.
The “Lex FIFA” campaign has been led by Swiss lawmaker Roland Buechel, who says he isconcerned that negative headlines around these organizations based in Switzerland is tarnishing the country’s image.