SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – The former head of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), Ricardo Teixeira, has promised to sue FIFA for damages after it accused him of misappropriating more than $3 million, he said yesterday.
Teixeira, who FIFA has said should pay back at least $3,514,025 in compensation, per diems, travel, and other costs, denied the charge of misappropriation and said he vowed to sue soccer’s global governing body in return.
“I am going to sue them for moral damages in Zurich,” Teixeira told Globoesporte.com.br one of Brazil’s biggest sports web sites. “They throw this thing in the air. I don’t know anything about this suit against me, this unreasonable request.”
FIFA has applied to U.S. authorities for tens of millions of dollars in damages from ex-officials indicted there for graft.
In a document and an accompanying letter presented to federal prosecutors in New York on Wednesday, it demanded the return of salaries and payment of compensation for damage to its brand, business interests and reputation.
Teixeira was named along with the two men who succeeded him at the CBF and 17 others who FIFA said misappropriated more than $28 million since 2004.
Teixeira, who resigned in 2012 after 23 years at the head of the CBF, said he wanted FIFA to go after Michel Platini, the former UEFA head who was banned for six years for ethics violations but not named in yesterday’s suit.
“I want to see if FIFA is fair, if they are going to ask the same of Platini,” Teixeira said. “The only case that I know of where FIFA money was proven to have been misdirected was Platini. I imagine that they are now going to go after him.”
