In his article from 2018, The Kuwait Conspiracy 2.0, the Norwegian journalist Andreas Selliaas describes the unusual behaviour of Slovenian sports officials, who defended the Kuwait Sports Federation, suspected of corruption in sports and other practices that do not demonstrate sportsmanship. The article also reveals the friendship connection between the FIFA official Tomaž Vesel and the UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin. Selliaas is a sports journalist, investgating corruption in sports.
We are revealing new information about the President of the Court of Audit, Tomaž Vesel. A few days ago, the Slovenian public was surprised to find out from the German and Swiss media that Vesel receives 246 thousand euros as his annual gross salary for his “afternoon work” at the International Football Association (FIFA). He got the position in 2016. Norwegian investigative sports journalist Andreas Selliaas and the journalists from the Norwegian football web portal Josimar also pointed out the close links between the UEFA President Aleksandar Čeferin and Tomaž Vesel. In one of the paragraphs in the article titled The Kuwaiti Conspiracy 2.0, it is written that Vesel was heavily involved in the rectangle of FIFA, UEFA, the Slovenian Football Association and the Norwegian Football Association. “The new head of the Audit and Compliance Committee at FIFA, Tomaž Vesel, who is also Slovenian, is part of this story too,” wrote the Norwegian journalist Selliaas. He then goes on to write that he and the Josimar’s journalists were even attacked by the influential people in Slovenian football. Among other things, the godfathers of Slovenian football made sure that practically none of the insiders from Slovenian football were available to Selliass and the Jomar journalist team. The story does not look even the least bit innocent, as the journalist Sellias dedicated a large part of the article to a segment, in which he described the conspiracy of the influential Kuwait sports officials, which takes place in Slovenia. We also sent several questions regarding this matter to Tomaž Vesel, but he has not sent us any answers yet.
Selliaas was invited to a conference in Ljubljana in September 2016, which was organized by the Olympic Committee of Slovenia. That is how he found himself on the flight from Zurich to Ljubljana. Čeferin was well aware of the critical articles Sellias was publishing, but he did not seem to know what Sellias looked like. The Norwegian journalist was surprised to see that Vesel and Čeferin talked to each other as if they were best friends. “They both sat together in business class and talked happily throughout the trip,” the Scandinavian investigative sports journalist wrote about Vesel and Čeferin.
Janez Kocijančič got really mad when Selliaas was mentioned; he wanted to cancel the entire conference
Andreas Selliaas was invited to a conference, organized by the Olympic Committee of Slovenia (Olimpijski komite Slovenije – referred to as OKS), and asked to prepare a lecture on doping and corruption in international sports. He was surprised by the invitation, as he, as well as the other Jomar’s journalists, were very critical of the influential football and other Slovenian sports officials. As Selliaas wrote, their findings about Čeferin from 2015, were summarized by the world-famous media, such as the BBC, CNN, ESPN, L’Equipe, Sky News, Suddeutche Zeitung.
The OKS promised Selliaas that he could give a lecture on the Play the game project, which he has been presenting since 2008. However, a change in the schedule of the event happened on the day of the event. Janez Kocijančič was afraid of Selliaas’s lecture. Back then, Kocijančič, the well-known sports official and influential businessman of the former regime, held the position of President of the European Olympic Committees (EOC). At the time, an affair was blown wide open in public, about the former EOC President Patrick Hickey, who was arrested during the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics, because of ticket resale. Kocijančič did not know that Selliaas would also be lecturing at the conference, but upon learning about it, he wanted to call off the entire conference. Finally, Kocijančič was calmed down by Miro Cerar, who found himself there as a guest, as the then-Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia.
Janez Kocijančič did everything in his power to cancel the conference. The current leadership of the Slovenian Olympic Committee prepared a conference, where they wanted to reveal the involvement of Kuwaiti influencers in sports. One of the fighters against the corruption in Kuwaiti sports, was the President of the Kuwaiti Shooting Association, Sheikh Duaij Khalaf Al-Otaibi. He was the one who fought against the policy of the current creator of sports politics in Kuwait, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al Sabah. Both Selliaaes and Al-Otaibi knew very well what the name Janez Kocijančič meant in the sports world.
Kocijančič and Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, among others, also strongly supported Hickey when he was caught red-handed. They both supported the Irishman, even though they knew all about his irregularities. Therefore, the question arises whether the former alpha and omega of Slovenian sport, Kocijančič himself, was perhaps also involved in the indecencies at the Summer Olympics in Brazil. And the Norwegian journalist was supposed to publicly speak about these indecencies, in front of the gathered eminent guests from abroad. As Kocijančič’s aide, Tomaž Vesel’s task was to use the influence he had on the UEFA President Aleksandar Čeferin, and in his position at FIFA, arrange for Kuwait not to have its suspension from FIFA suspended. In 2017, FIFA lifted Kuwait’s suspension.
The influential FIFA officials sleep in the luxurious Bar au Lac Hotel
Tomaž Vesel supposedly also spent most of his nights in Switzerland in the luxury hotel Bar au Lac in Zurich. Influential FIFA officials often stay there. We must not forget that the beginning of the end of the long-time ruler, the king of the world of football, Sepp Blatter, began in this very hotel. Football influencers were preparing for the 65th FIFA Congress, at which they were also going to elect the FIFA president. However, their plans were thwarted by the U.S. law enforcement, due to a suspicion of the officials receiving a 150-million-dollar bribe, for choosing Qatar as the organizer of the 2022 World Cup. The arrests happened on the 27th of May 2015. The World Cup is one of the most lucrative sporting events that brings the country more than 10 billion dollars in net earnings.
Another interesting meeting took place in this hotel in 2015. According to Sellias, the central role was played by a businessman from Paris, who acted as a mediator between the Kuwaiti authorities and the International Olympic Committees, in order to resolve the situation, so as not to exclude Kuwait from the international sports organizations. However, it was precisely this French businessman, who was among the decisive sources that helped Selliass investigate the unusual happenings in the International Shooting Association. Russian oligarchs and corrupt Mexican sports officials were involved in this unusual case, along with the Kuwait conspirators who had the intention of seizing power in their homeland.
Despite some complications, Sellias gave a lecture on the corruption in sports, that lasted twenty minutes. However, he felt very uncomfortable during the lecture. During his lecture, an exchange of information took place between the then-Minister of Sports and the influential Kuwaiti Sheikh Ahmed Al-Mansour Al-Sabah, who was also the Minister of Defense. The sheikh was particularly interested in whether Selliaas would talk about the irregularities that were happening in Kuwaiti sport. However, we learned that it was the then-Minister of Education who was most committed to breaking the old practices that prevailed in Kuwait. Kocijančič was said to have been particularly annoyed that both the President of the Shooting Association, Duaij Khalaf Al-Otaibi, as well as Al-Mansour came to Slovenia, both of whom are considered to know a lot about the business and political machinations of Kocijančič, who passed away this year.
All Slovenian officials supported what was going on in Kuwait
The Norwegian article that revealed new information about the Kuwaiti Shooting Federation and its links to influential sports officials in FIFA, UEFA and the International Olympic Committees, suggests that wealthy Kuwaiti sheikhs have been heavily involved in the matter. The reaction of the late Janez Kocijančič, who wanted to cancel the entire event due to the Norwegian journalist Andreas Selliaas, suggests that the Norwegians inadvertently revealed the sports Kuwaitgate, in which the late Janez Kocijančič, Aleksander Čeferin and Tomaž Vesel were also involved.
Step by step, Tomaž Vesel’s entanglement in the spider web of Slovenian influencers who are directly or indirectly connected to him is being revealed. One of the central figures of Vesel’s network is his long-time friend Aleksander Čeferin. Step by step, Tomaž Vesel reveals his spider web of Slovenian influencers who are directly or indirectly connected to him. One of the central figures of Vesel’s network is his long-time friend Aleksander Čeferin. In our media outlet, we have already written about how Drago Kos did not get along with Vesel and how he revealed his involvement in the German affair to Dnevnik. As it turns out, there is a lot of truth in this information, as we asked Kos about it and he has not denied any part of it so far. Former construction baron Ivan Zidar is the fourth person who kept Vesel in check, due to Vesel’s actions in Germany. The common feature of the aforementioned quartet is their love of football. Ivan Zidar was the President of the Olimpija Football Club for many years. Drago Kos was one of the best football referees and surely met Zidar at the football fields. Regarding Tomaž Vesel and Aleksandar Čeferin, the Norwegians revealed that they were supposedly teammates in the same football team.
A lot of new information about Tomaž Vesel has been revealed in the past week. His high salary at the International Football Association – FIFA, which he earns with his “afternoon work,” was revealed. As a member of the Football Association of Slovenia and in the function of the President of the Court of Audit, he covered Aleksander Čeferin’s back, when at least five million euros were irrationally spent in the construction of the Brdo National Football Centre. However, Vesel found himself in a conflict of interest, as he should be in charge of controlling the use of public money as President of the Court of Audit. During Vesel’s tenure at the Court of Audit, the Football Association of Slovenia has received more than five million euros in taxpayers’ money. Do you still think that Tomaž Vesel is suitable for the position of President of the Court of Audit?
You can read the full article written by the Norwegian independent investigative journalist Andreas Selliaas HERE.
Luka Perš
