They were accused of using Swiss bank accounts to launder bribe money.

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Ciavarella was found guilty of trading convictions for cash, and unjustly sentencing youth to to detention centers whose owners paid him millions in bribe money.

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"The acceptance of bribe money by Havelange, Teixeira and Leoz was not punishable under Swiss criminal law at that time, " explained Eckert in his report into the FIFA-ISL case.

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However, it is clear that Havelange and Teixeira, as football officials, should not have accepted any bribe money, and should have had to pay it back since the money was in connection with the exploitation of media rights.

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The recipient of the funds, German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky, said in court last year that the money was a bribe.

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Lurking behind Mr Ibrahim's worthy aims is the niggling sense that the money amounts to an annual bribe - a bribe for not accepting bribes - dangled like a fat carrot in front of the continent's elites, in the hope of steering them towards the sort of behaviour that should surely be taken for granted.

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Federal prosecutors said Mr. Halloran promised to secure member item money that could be used as a bribe.

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They and eager prosecutors will try to make the mere contributing of money to politicians the equivalent of a bribe.

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One extreme is to bribe banks into action with big subsidies: but that would require a lot more public money which voters are not inclined to provide.

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