AMSTERDAM, (Reuters) – Top international prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, best known for pursuing war criminals, has been nominated as chief investigator at soccer’s corruption-plagued governing body, the head of FIFA’s governance committee told Reuters.
FIFA’s executive committee is due to discuss the appointment of a chief investigator within the next few weeks as part of the proposed clean-up following a string of scandals.
In March, FIFA’s executive approved plans to split the ethics committee, which looks into wrongdoing by officials, into separate divisions with one to investigate cases and one to judge them.
The appointment is likely to attract attention as evidence that FIFA is indeed willing to push ahead with proposed reforms.
Moreno-Ocampo, whose term as chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague ends in June, has been nominated to head the investigations side, according to Mark Pieth, a professor from the Swiss-based Institute of Governance.
Pieth heads a 13-member panel created last year to oversee changes in the way Swiss-based FIFA is run.
“The fact that Luis is on the list shows just how serious we are,” he told Reuters.
