adminSAO PAOLO. — Nike Inc and some other big international companies face a grilling over their powerful role in Brazilian soccer as a former star player-turned-senator vows to expose what he describes as suspect marketing contracts and their links to corrupt payments.
Romario, a revered striker who led Brazil to victory at the 1994 World Cup wearing the US sportswear giant’s boots, is leading a new congressional probe into sponsorship deals in the wake of US graft charges that have shaken the soccer world.
Three Brazilians were among those named and charged in the US indictment, including a former head of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF).
Neither Romario nor Brazilian prosecutors have alleged that Nike did anything illegal, despite the company’s $160 million deal in 1996 to sponsor Brazil’s team being linked to kickback payments in the US indictment released last week.
Nike was not named in the indictment but there was only one company that fit the prosecutors’ description. In a statement last week, Nike noted that the charges did not allege it engaged in criminal conduct or that its employees were involved in or aware of bribery. — Reuters.
leeroy
Online Reporter