Brazil in finance 'disaster'

The president of the Brazilian Football Confederation, Ricardo Teixeira, has been accused of negligent administration which allowed him to live in luxury at his organisation's expense.

The former national team coach, Wanderley Luxemburgo, sacked a year ago amid allegations of wrongdoing and poor results, was accused of tax evasion as a Congressional investigation into the national sport produced its final report. The commission of inquiry in the Senate was one of two set up last year to investigate suspected mismanagement and corruption in the Brazilian game following a public outcry at the decline of the sport.

The general secretary Geraldo Althoff described a "voracity" and "lack of control" over CBF expenditure and accused Luxemburgo of declaring only $4.12m (£2.9m) of the $7.43m he was said to have earned between 1995 and 1999. He said that between 1998 and 2000, the CBF had spent almost $13m in air fares and hotels, all with the same travel agency, without providing receipts.

CBF directors had illegitimately paid themselves wages, donated money to political campaigns and provided expenses paid trips to the World Cup for people with no football connections. Althoff claimed that the CBF had accumulated debts of $10.32m between 1995 and 2000 after being "administered in a negligent manner".

"Lack of control, disorganisation and bad management reign in the CBF," said Althoff. "Mr Ricardo Teixeira, as president, is directly responsible for creating an environment which is ripe for an administrative disaster."

Althoff said expenditure on staff had jumped 400 per cent and on services, including transportation and hotels, by 600 per cent. Other cases were found where directors travelled abroad at the CBF's expense even though there was no international football taking place at their destinations. One of the trips was 34 days and involved visits to Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Venice, Paris and Zurich.