FIFA rescues deposed PFF President Martinez

FIFA rescues deposed PFF President Martinez

by rick olivares

Apparently, even in the boardroom, it’s not over until the final whistle.

One week after 25 football associations voted to remove and replace Jose Mari Martinez as president of the Philippine Football Federation, the Federation de International Football Association sent an email letter to interim president Mariano V. Araneta and the rest of the federation that “the proposal of removing you (Martinez) has not been properly put into the agenda of the Congress and we therefore can not acknowledge at this stage the change of presidency.”

The letter sent by FIFA Deputy Secretary General Markus Kattner also mentioned that an extraordinary congress must be called within 90 days time to take up his removal from the position.

In effect, Martinez and the PFF board of governors were reinstated and to continue their pre-November 27 designations.

Araneta expressed displeasure with the decision of FIFA by saying that “they only heard one side. “We have prepared all documents to be sent to FIFA. Meanwhile, we have to insist to Mari that Congress removed him and I was given authority by Congress to replace him. Now only Congress can remove me.”

As of press time, Business Mirror was waiting for a statement from Martinez who did not return our text messages.

Our source in FIFA said that the international governing body of football will likewise conduct its own audit of the PFF and should the findings be similar to the audit of Campos, Campos & Co. there is a possibility that the Financial Assistance Plan given to the Philippines will be suspended.

The PFF receives annually the amount of US $250,000.

The audit by Campos, Campos & Co. showed that some PhP 4 million of PFF funds that were entrusted by Martinez to the illegally appointed Henry Tsai were unliquidated. There were also numerous entries in the accounting where Martinez was purported to use the funds to pay for personal usage such as groceries, medical and credit cards bills, as well as shares in the Valle Verde Country Club.

Tsai and Martinez eventually had a falling out with the latter filing a complaint in court last November 7 against the former for "estafa and the violation of the bouncing check law".

The last week has seen an outcry regarding the alleged “FIFA bribes” where officials took money from the now defunct International Sports and Leisure marketing company that promoted World Cup events. FIFA conducted its own probe and absolved all three accused of the accusations levied against them.