corruption adviser has called for swift publication of a Swiss court document revealing which football officials took millions of dollars from marketing agency ISL as kickbacks from World Cup broadcasting deals. Mark Pieth told the Associated Press that FIFA and its President Sepp Blatter cited legal reasons for “repeatedly” denying his requests to see the document. Pieth said the document “needs to be publicized,” though he acknowledges FIFA would be in contempt of court to share it. Pieth spoke Friday after Switzerland's Federal Tribunal announced it extended a block on publication requested by two unidentified parties. The Swiss Federal Tribunal granted a “suspensive effect” to parties identified only as “B2” and “B3” who appealed to stop publication. Swiss business weekly Handelszeitung and the BBC have reported that the officials are former FIFA president Joao Havelange and his former son-in-law, Ricardo Teixeira. The court said FIFA was party “B1” but withdrew from the case in December. The document details a May 2010 deal in which two football officials admitted taking kickbacks in the 1990s. They repaid 5.5 million Swiss francs (then $6.1 million) on condition their identities would remain secret. Four Swiss media organizations, including Handelszeitung reporter Jean-Francois Tanda, and the BBC have sought access to the document. They want to establish if the parties got preferential treatment under Swiss law, and if other FIFA officials were aware of the unethical payments. The journalists won a ruling in December when a lower court said publication was in the public interest. The federal court verdict is expected in several months. Blatter has said he cannot fulfill a promise to publish the ISL dossier until the federal verdict is handed down. Teixeira resigned this month as head of Brazil's football federation and the 2014 World Cup organizing committee, and gave up his FIFA executive committee seat on Monday, citing unspecified health and personal reasons. The 95-year-old Havelange, who remains FIFA's honorary president, is currently being treated in a Rio de Janeiro hospital for a bacterial infection. The scandal stemmed from alleged payments of tens of millions of dollars to sports officials made by the Swiss-based marketing agency before its 2001 collapse with debts of $300 million.
