Interpol Suspends €20m Agreement With FIFA Over Scandals

Interpol suspended an agreement with FIFA on Friday that had called for the international police agency to receive 20 million euros over 10 years to fight corruption in soccer, citing the American investigations that have ensnared soccer’s world governing body.

Pietro Calcaterra, a spokesman for Interpol, confirmed that since 2011, Interpol, which has a staff of more than 800 and describes itself as the world’s largest international police organization, has been augmenting its annual budget — about €80 million, or about $90 million, last year — by turning to the private sector.

The four-year-old deal had raised doubts about the risks of a conflict of interest and questions about whether it was appropriate for Interpol to accept millions of euros from FIFA.

Sepp Blatter was re-elected to a fourth term as FIFA’s leader in 2011 just weeks after the agreement was signed, raising questions about whether he had used the deal to try to deflect accusations about corruption that have long swirled around his organization.

Mr. Calcaterra declined to comment immediately on the concerns about any conflict of interest that might have been generated by the agreement with FIFA.

In May 2011, FIFA agreed to provide about $23 million over 10 years to support the Integrity in Sport program run by Interpol. The program is meant to provide training and education to prevent fraud and corruption in soccer, including match-fixing and illegal betting. The contribution was described at the time as the biggest-ever private donation to Interpol.

Interpol said in a statement on Friday that the organization would “freeze the use of financial contributions from FIFA.” In the statement, Interpol’s secretary general, Jürgen Stock, said the decision had been taken “in light of the current context surrounding FIFA.”

“All external partners, whether public or private, must share the fundamental values and principles of the organization,” Mr. Stock added. The statement also lauded the anticorruption program for helping the agency’s efforts across its 190 member countries to “prevent the manipulation of sporting events and illegal gambling by criminal groups.”