Public hearing on&nbsp;Football leaks at the&nbsp;Committee of Inquiry to investigate alleged contraventions in relation to money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion&nbsp;(PANA), in the EP in Brussels, with Jeppe KOFOD (S&amp;D, DK) and Peter SIMON (S&amp;D, DE), rapporteurs

Brussels

KOFOD, Jeppe (S&D, DK)

fight against tax fraud and evasion (T)

public hearing

fight against organised crime, corruption and money laundering (T)

Panama Papers inquiry committee

SIMON, Peter (S&D, DE)

Tax-planning, do celebrities and companies breach EU law?: extracts from the public hearing on Football leaks with Jeppe KOFOD (S&D, DK) and Peter SIMON (S&D, DE), rapporteurs

SOUNDBITE (English), Merijn RENGERS, Investigative journalist NRC Handelsblad - European Investigative Collaborations , When we were talking to players agents they would tell us, yeah well FIFA they have their own problems. There's corruption there, so we can do pretty much anything, because the regulator is as corrupt, or even more corrupt then we are.

SOUNDBITE (English), Merijn RENGERS, Investigative journalist NRC Handelsblad - European Investigative Collaborations, We found out, and also investigations by the tax authorities in various European countries, that, you know the biggest clubs, the biggest players, the biggest player agents, pretty much everyone was using tax structures to channel money out of sight of tax authorities. Everybody, so it is epidemic.

SOUNDBITE (English), Kimberly MORRIS, Head of TMS Global Transfers &amp; Compliance FIFA, When there's failure to comply or when ther's a clear breach of the FIFA regulations, sanctions are imposed. These are imposed either at the level of FIFA TMS (Transfer Matching System) compliance, up to 14,000 Swiss francs, or in the event of a more systemic breach, the matter is heard by the FIFA disciplinary committee who imposed which can include a transfer ban.

SOUNDBITE (English), Kimberly MORRIS, Head of TMS Global Transfers &amp; Compliance FIFA, There was then also a change to the system itself as a result of this new law (TPO ban) which FIFA imposed. And this was that every time that a club enters into the engagement of a player, they must make a declaration, either positive or negative, in the system, indicating whether there is third party ownership in connection with the movement of a player.

SOUNDBITE (English), Julien ZYLBERSTEIN, Legal counsel UEFA, So between 201 and 2015, in five years, losses accumulated by football clubs in Europe, have dropped from 1,7 billion euros to just over 300 million thanks to financial fair play.

SOUNDBITE (English), Julien, ZYLBERSTEIN, Legal counsel UEFA, Tax evasion, through for example the off-shore payments of image rights, is one of these areas where our sphere of control is limited.

SOUNDBITE (English), Gregor REITER, Deutsche Fu&#223;ballspieler-Vermittler Vereinigung E.V. - European Football Agents Association (EFAA), A big issue for agents as well as for clubs and associations is the protection of minors. We are of the opinion that the current regulatory framework is not efficient enough to protect minors from being moved around the world for no other purposes than to make money.

SOUNDBITE (English), Gregor REITER, Deutsche Fu&szlig;ballspieler-Vermittler Vereinigung E.V. - European Football Agents Association (EFAA), Agents are not all crooks, although it always sounds like we are. Most transfers, 95% of the transfers are done correctly and in accordance with the rules and regulations.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jeppe KOFOD (S&amp;D, DK), Co-rapportueur, Following Messi's tax fraud conviction, FC Barcelona for example, launched a support campaign for Messi with the hashtag "we are all Leo Messi". This site is still active on FC Barcelona's webpage, so I would like to ask the representative from FIFA and UEFA, for an official response to that type of campaign. Is this campaign representative of the values and ideals of UEFA and FIFA?

SOUNDBITE (English), Kimberly MORRIS, Head of TMS Global Transfers &amp; Compliance FIFA, With respect to the website that you are speaking about in particular, to answer that question, I am not sure as the world governing body, that FIFA would be able to take any step with respect to that .