(ATR)Slovenia’s top auditor Tomaz Vesel has been appointed as FIFA audit and compliance chief and will help determine the salary of president Gianni Infantino.
Vesel replaces Domenico Scala, who quit in May after Infantino controversially made a change that gives the FIFA Council control over appointing and dismissing members of the independent compliance and ethics committees. Diminishing his authority, Scala said it undermined governance reforms. A dispute over what the FIFA chief labeled an "insulting" $2 million salary offer triggered Scala’s departure.
Having passed an integrity check, the president of the Court of Auditors in Slovenia now heads a three-member FIFA committee tasked with finalizing the salaries of Infantino and FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura. The 49-year-old will also have oversight of commercial and financial contracts, including where FIFA’s money is invested in world football and its multi-million dollar income streams.
Infantino said Vesel’s appointment would help in the "ongoing effort to strengthen FIFA’s governance and compliance systems".
"This is a vital role within the organisation and Mr Vesel’s audit expertise and international experience will help reassure stakeholders and restore trust in FIFA," he said in a statement.
Commenting on his new role, Vesel said: "As a global institution that governs the world’s most popular sport, FIFA’s work has an expansive reach and tremendous impact.
"I look forward to working with FIFA to ensure that it operates in accordance with international standards and continues down the path of good governance that has been set out in the reforms."
FIFA highlighted Vesel’s experience as head of the Court of Auditors, the highest body for supervising state accounts, the state budget and all public spending in Slovenia – an EU member state since 2004. Vesel has also worked with numerous European governments and the OECD as an expert adviser, and is an active member of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Organisations and the European Organisation of Supreme Audit Organisations.
Disgraced former FIFA president Sepp Blatter will beat the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Aug. 25 for his appeal against a six-year ban from football. Blatter’s initial eight-year ban over ethics violations related to a "disloyal" $2 million payment to former UEFA president Michel Platini was later reduced to six by the FIFA appeal committee.
Written by Mark Bisson
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