CAS judgement: UEFA ban overturned, City exonerated (report out p603)

hertsblue said:
This, Until the club stops treating everything with kids gloves and actually starts going after certain people and media groups, it will continue. A few legal actions will show people not to spout crap about the club. Any Tom, Dick or Harry who clearly states we cheat should be taken to the cleaners by the club
Click to expand...
Despite what our learned friends on this board have said ( legal actions won't happen) I have to agree these publications have to be stopped once and for all.
 
decmancity said:
I don't think hes responsible for the hack. Seems like it was someone at City who got spoofed by a UEFA address.

As for having a word, I think hes pretty untouchable within the whole organisation.
Click to expand...
Simon Pearce is only the most trusted foreigner working in Abu Dhabi whose knowledge and skill has served the Al Nayed family extremely well for years.
 
Last edited:
Citizen Green said:
No need to get all tetchy

All I’m saying is he clearly states he has never organised sponsorship fees between the two parties and is then clearly contradicted by his own email.

We might not like it as City fans but that appears to imply he has lied to CAS, like it or not.
Click to expand...

No it doesn’t. The new leak only shows that he sent an email containing figures. It doesn’t show that he organized or signed off on anything. That’s a big difference.
 
Ric said:
Hopefully the fact that City were happy for it to be made public suggests we’re not overly concerned about any other emails that may be out there.
Click to expand...

This has to be the hope, that we can't not have done all our due diligence.

I think we can seek further comfort from the fact at CAS nobody would dare go near accusing City, Etihad, HHSM, BDO, Ernst and Young or Deloitte of being complicit in fraud on a massive scale?

That's so much bigger than FFP, that's bringing a knife to a nuclear ICBM summit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: OB1
Prestwich_Blue said:
Anyone speak German? Seems this article has something to do with Der Spiegel and their journalistic standards.

https://uebermedien.de/40247/spiege...r-geschichte-fest-und-befoerdert-ihren-autor/
Click to expand...

When “Spiegel” submitted the final report to the Relotius Commission at the end of May , many were shocked by what could be read in it . Others, even in the house, were rather astonished at what could not be read in it. For example, not a word about a dubious “Spiegel” article from 2014 that was already in doubt at the time. Documents that are available in the media now provide further information that suggests that the representation in the “mirror” was incorrect at the time.

But neither the Relotius Commission nor the editor-in-chief want to see it that way.

This is the story of an alleged lie in the "mirror". Above all, however, this is the story of how “Spiegel” still holds on to this alleged lie even after five years. And now wants to promote her author to head the investigative team.

The miraculous prediction
During the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, “Spiegel” raised a suspicion that questioned the entire competition. The infamous match fixer Wilson Raj Perumal is said to have claimed that all three Cameroon World Cup group games were postponed.

That could be dismissed as a mere allegation of a pimp and a scammer. Perumal would not have given "Spiegel" editor Rafael Buschmann a forecast hours before the Cameroon-Croatia match on June 19, 2014.

Because this is how the story “Rotten Apples” in issue 27/2014 begins :

Tear Out: "Mirror"

Before the World Cup group game between Cameroon and Croatia, Wilson Raj Perumal reports on Facebook. He writes that the game will go 4-0 for Croatia and that there will be a red card in the first half.

The game actually went 4-0 for Croatia; Alex Song from Cameroon received a red card in the 40th minute.

Either Perumal landed a sensational coincidence in its forecast. Or he knew about criminal pushing.

Or, the third possibility: The "mirror" misrepresented the conversation with Perumal.

The denial
Perumal claims that himself. One day after the issue appeared, he denied the “Spiegel” report : the corresponding conversation with the news magazine did not take place hours before the Cameroon-Croatia game, but days after. He only made assumptions about games that had already taken place. There was no mention of the four goals or a red card.

The "mirror" remained with its representation.

The British Daily Telegraph published alleged screenshots of the chat between Perumal and Buschmann on the same day, which seemed to confirm Perumal's version.

There are no messages to be seen between June 11th and 21st - not even at the time indicated by the "Spiegel". On the 21st there is a chat about the performance of the German team and the weather. Buschmann speaks to Perumal about the Cameroon-Croatia match that took place two days earlier:

The email find in the "Football Leaks"
Since this year, a new evidence has emerged that speaks against the portrayal of Rafael Buschmann and for Perumals Dementi. It can be found in documents and e-mails that come from the “Football Leaks” disclosure platform. The “Football Leaks” collection of supposedly 70 million documents was made available to a Rafael Buschmann by a Portuguese hacker in 2016. The "Spiegel" then evaluated it together with several international partners in the research network EIC.

The documents contain several mail changes from July 2014, which deal with the alleged “mirror” unveiling at the time. It is news from or to staff at the Qatar-based International Center for Sport Security (ICSS). The company claims to be fighting match-fixing and other manipulations in sports, but has itself been badly discredited. It is a propaganda instrument of the Emir of Qatar.

One of the directors was Chris Eaton, a former Interpol official who first moved to FIFA and then to the ICSS. According to the emails in “Football Leaks”, Eaton contacted Buschmann on July 1, 2014, two days after “Spiegel” published the alleged Perumal disclosure online, and asked him where he got the information from:

Buschmann replied that he had been following Perumal on Facebook for years and was in irregular contact with him there. He could not say exactly whether the games of Cameroon were really manipulated: Perumal had also mentioned two other game results, both of which were not correct. (There is no mention of this in the “Spiegel” article.)

Hi Chris, I know his FB-Account since 4 years, we stay unregulary in contact.

(…)

In generally: I doesn't know if the games of Cameroon were fixed. Wilson told me another two games and this results weren't right. He is a criminal figure and he loves to Tell lies. I wrote it exactly in this way in my hole story. Maybe he had luck with this game. Or he knew more and don't want
o talk about this.

Best regards from Sao Paulo, RB

When asked by Eaton, Buschmann repeated that Perumal had written to him before the game:

Yes Chris, he send it before the match. But he send two wrong results from other matches as well (one was complete wrong, the other had the right winner but a wrong result).

At that time, ICSS director Eaton and another former Interpol official, with whom he worked, made their own inquiries, the results of which they shared with FIFA. His partner also wrote - according to "Football Leaks" - to a senior
Facebook employee. He asked him whether the Facebook communication between "Spiegel" and Perumal had taken place before or after the Cameroon game. The Facebook man replied:

Off the record: it occured after the match, not before it.

It happened after the game, not before. A high-ranking Facebook employee who informally finds out such details via a messenger discussion, only with the note "off the records", for example: "don't rely on me" for a dubious organization? This is not absurd for connoisseurs of the scene. Technically, it is possible for Facebook employees to understand messenger conversations.

The positive news for Fifa was immediately communicated to the FIFA security chief, who was delighted with the “great news” and found that everything indicated that Buschmann and Perumal had communicated after the game anyway . Now, however, one is in an even stronger position to reject the alleged match-fixing claims. The World Cup was just entering its decisive phase.

The FIFA and ICSS people also referred each other to a blog post at the time, which argued in detail why everything argues against Perumal having manipulated the game.

Lack of plausibility


It was back then for experts and it is now incomprehensible why Perumal is said to have said what "The Mirror" claims. Bochum's chief criminal commissioner and proven match-fixing expert Michael Bahrs points out in an interview with the media that Perumal liked to brag about his activities. Today he distances himself from manipulation, but at the time he even advertised himself to be one of the biggest match fixers. His book was published shortly before the 2014 World Cup, detailing how he had manipulated several games.

Perumal dismissed the "mirror" description of the game Cameroon-Croatia immediately after publication as a "bullshit". "There is no reason why Perumal should deny this manipulation if he actually had anything to do with it," says Bahrs. "I was suspicious even then."

The fiction of first-class fact-checking
Journalist Matthew Karnitschnig met Perumal in Budapest in August 2014, not long after the unveiling. The Matchfixer also denied the "mirror" display to him. Karnitschnig wrote about it at the time in the "Wall Street Journal" and added:

A review of Perumal's Facebook logs by the Journal support his statement that the chat with the reporter took place three days after the June 18 Cameroon match, not before.

Karnitschnig says that Perumal first showed him a printout of the chat history, then the conversation himself on his mobile phone. The "mirror" did not want to comment on his request at the time.

The topic came up again in December 2018 when Relotius was exposed. Karnitschnig, now the Berlin office manager of the "Politico" magazine, was annoyed that Relotius was so much portrayed as an isolated case by "Spiegel" - also by Buschmann:

He published several tweets, in which he described the Perumal case again and accused the "Spiegel" of not taking the facts generally very precisely. The idea that "Spiegel" had a first-class fact-checking department was "always a fiction".

Evasive action
Buschmann found it difficult not only on Twitter to respond to the allegations. At that time, on December 20, 2018, we asked him and the “Spiegel” press office several questions by email. There were specific questions, for example whether the crucial chat of the “Spiegel” documentation was available for examination. The press office replied evasively.

Spokeswoman Anja zum Hingst only informed us that "the facts and the source situation were checked both by the documentation and by the legal department together with the editorial team", "as with all articles in the 'Spiegel'" (a wording that already at that time was daring about the Relotius case).

However, she pointed out something that we had not asked for: Perumal, fol
lowing the report, “contacted the“ Spiegel ”through a well-known press law firm and asked us to refrain from doing so. The legal department of the 'Spiegel' rejected the claims, and Mr. Perumal never replied. ”

This is interesting, but it does not prove anything - especially since Perumal in the meantime had other worries than suing the "Spiegel", not least financial ones.

When researching the machinations of the ICSS, about six months ago the “Football Leaks” data collection discovered the emails that underpin the doubts about the “mirror” representation. They were also leaked to the "Spiegel" and later to the Relotius Commission.

The "Spiegel" replied to our specific questions again in June rather evasively, but informed us in general: "The Relotius Commission has checked several documents on the article 'rotten apples' and could not find any evidence of counterfeiting."

A broken phone
At the press conference at which "Spiegel" presented the final report, news chief Stefan Weigel said for the commission: "We have dealt with this case, also, I can say, in detail, but have come to the conclusion that there is nothing for us There is evidence that justifies including it in the report. ”

How thoroughly the Commission really dealt with the case is unclear. Karnitschnig, who would nevertheless be an important interlocutor for an attempt at clarification, says that nobody has contacted him, neither from the "Spiegel" nor from the commission.

There is said to have been an internal order from the editor-in-chief to review the matter again. It should be heard that a fact checker, who is part of the Investigative Department and works closely with Buschmann in this function, should take care of this. She is also a member of the Football Leaks team. The special proximity between a documentary and a department had proven to be particularly problematic in the Relotius case. In this case, the team controlled itself. The "mirror" does not comment on our request.

The story is circulating in the "Spiegel" that Rafael Buschmann initially explained missing evidence for his presentation by saying that his cell phone fell first on the concrete floor and then into the water. He is said to have later said that his Facebook account had been hacked, so that the chat with Perumal could no longer be traced there. Buschmann and the “Spiegel” do not respond to our request.

Criticism from colleagues
Buschmann and his way of working are criticized internally not only because of the inconsistencies in his Perumal history. This applies both to journalists from the international research network EIC, who evaluate the "football leaks" with him and complain about unreasonable demands for cooperation, as well as to colleagues in-house who consider his way of working to be not serious enough. Several journalists accuse him of lack of care and a tendency to exaggerate things and to generously overlook disruptive details in favor of an attractive story. Buschmann did not answer our question whether he is aware of criticism of his work.

Buschmann causes great unrest in the editorial office, according to his critics. In some cases, colleagues who could contribute know-how on the topic would apparently be kept away from work and the “Football Leaks” data sets. The methods with which he procures exclusive material and then treasures it like
a personal treasure cause annoyance for some employees. When dealing with explosive material such as that which the Russian hacking group “Fancy Bear” passed to “Spiegel”, it also deals with media-ethical and legal questions. Not everyone is convinced that Buschmann always lives up to the associated responsibility.

On the other hand, Buschmann must have significant advocates - not least obviously the new editor-in-chief of “Spiegel”, Steffen Klusmann. Buschmann will shortly be promoted to spokesman for the redesigned investigative team. The long-time “Spiegel” investor reporters Jürgen Dahlkamp, Gunther Latsch and Jörg Schmitt will then leave the team and switch back to their departments. This suggests that they were not ready to work under Buschmann. And that, conversely, the "Spiegel" editor-in-chief apparently did not want to do without Buschmann's appointment despite this loss.

The Investigative Team was founded two years ago. The corresponding contracts expire at the end of July. Michael Wulzinger, Buschmann's journalist foster father and co-author of the “Football Leaks” books are to be added to the investigative department. He was the sports department manager when the Perumal story came out in 2014. The "mirror" did not want to comment on the personal details when asked.

The replica of the "mirror"
On Monday, we confronted the "Spiegel" and Rafael Buschmann with many specific questions on this topic - and only received a general answer (read the complete questions and answers here ). "Spiegel" spokeswoman Anja zum Hingst expressly replies to us on behalf of Rafael Buschmann, the editor-in-chief and the allegedly independent commission. She tells us:

Knowing all the reports, including those published by Mr Perumal and Mr Karnitschnig, the Commission has so far found no evidence of counterfeiting.


It is not a question of proving forgeries, but of the correctness of the "mirror" representation. When we asked what evidence there was, for example a screenshot or a protocol of Facebook communication, the "Spiegel" answered five years and a Relotius scandal only evasively:

We ask for your understanding that neither the Commission nor we comment on further research results, evidence and sources.

Mind you, in this case there can actually be no informants or secret sources that need to be protected. According to “Spiegel”, reporting is based on direct Facebook communication between the “Spiegel” author and the well-known Matchfixer.

The "mirror" continues:

Before publication, Rafael Buschmann disclosed his still valid documentary stock with documents and witnesses to the department head, documentation and legal department and it was then decided in agreement with the editor-in-chief to publish this article as it was. On this basis, Mr. Perumal's warning was also rejected, and he then did not pursue or make any further claims. The article "Rotten Apples" was, this impression sometimes arises in view of your questions, therefore not a lonely contribution by Rafael Buschmann.

Unanswered questions
It is a hair-raising and enigmatic story. Is it really conceivable that "Spiegel" published an article five years ago that is based on falsehoods - and does not want to admit this fact until today?

On the one hand, the evidence that the piece was based on a false claim is overwhelming: from the strange fact that the "Spiegel" never again reported on the Scoop and its consequences, about the denials and screenshots of Perumal, the mail of the Facebook employee in the "Football Leaks" up to the lack of plausibility of the whole story.

On the other hand, the "mirror" does not provide anything to support its presentation. But he insists with determination that she is right.

For five years, the news magazine has made no contribution to clarifying the inconsistencies and seriously answering questions about them. He bricked up and refused concrete evidence.

Why doesn't “Spiegel” editor-in-chief Klusmann, who has been in office since the beginning of 2019, not provide clarification? Why does he even promote Buschmann - although he should be aware of many concerns? How can it be that the Relotius Commission does not declare itself to be the case?

Klusmann had described the Relotius case as perhaps a "healing shock" that could make the "mirror" better. Dealing with the Buschmann case does not indicate that this is serious.


 
Citizen Green said:
In fact ignore me @BlueAnorak, I’ve just read Stefan’s breakdown on Twitter.

I will indeed get my fresh pair of pants
Click to expand...
Good man.
Sorry for the exasperation.
The fact is that the G14 twats are out to get us. But revenge is incoming for anyone who has attacked us but has been a naughty boy in the past.
When it happens it will be like watching the end of Godfather I and Godfather II. You don't insult the Al Nayed family and get away with it.
 
Last edited:
mexico1970 said:
When “Spiegel” submitted the final report to the Relotius Commission at the end of May , many were shocked by what could be read in it . Others, even in the house, were rather astonished at what could not be read in it. For example, not a word about a dubious “Spiegel” article from 2014 that was already in doubt at the time. Documents that are available in the media now provide further information that suggests that the representation in the “mirror” was incorrect at the time.

But neither the Relotius Commission nor the editor-in-chief want to see it that way.

This is the story of an alleged lie in the "mirror". Above all, however, this is the story of how “Spiegel” still holds on to this alleged lie even after five years. And now wants to promote her author to head the investigative team.

The miraculous prediction
During the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, “Spiegel” raised a suspicion that questioned the entire competition. The infamous match fixer Wilson Raj Perumal is said to have claimed that all three Cameroon World Cup group games were postponed.

That could be dismissed as a mere allegation of a pimp and a scammer. Perumal would not have given "Spiegel" editor Rafael Buschmann a forecast hours before the Cameroon-Croatia match on June 19, 2014.

Because this is how the story “Rotten Apples” in issue 27/2014 begins :

Tear Out: "Mirror"

Before the World Cup group game between Cameroon and Croatia, Wilson Raj Perumal reports on Facebook. He writes that the game will go 4-0 for Croatia and that there will be a red card in the first half.

The game actually went 4-0 for Croatia; Alex Song from Cameroon received a red card in the 40th minute.

Either Perumal landed a sensational coincidence in its forecast. Or he knew about criminal pushing.

Or, the third possibility: The "mirror" misrepresented the conversation with Perumal.

The denial
Perumal claims that himself. One day after the issue appeared, he denied the “Spiegel” report : the corresponding conversation with the news magazine did not take place hours before the Cameroon-Croatia game, but days after. He only made assumptions about games that had already taken place. There was no mention of the four goals or a red card.

The "mirror" remained with its representation.

The British Daily Telegraph published alleged screenshots of the chat between Perumal and Buschmann on the same day, which seemed to confirm Perumal's version.

There are no messages to be seen between June 11th and 21st - not even at the time indicated by the "Spiegel". On the 21st there is a chat about the performance of the German team and the weather. Buschmann speaks to Perumal about the Cameroon-Croatia match that took place two days earlier:

The email find in the "Football Leaks"
Since this year, a new evidence has emerged that speaks against the portrayal of Rafael Buschmann and for Perumals Dementi. It can be found in documents and e-mails that come from the “Football Leaks” disclosure platform. The “Football Leaks” collection of supposedly 70 million documents was made available to a Rafael Buschmann by a Portuguese hacker in 2016. The "Spiegel" then evaluated it together with several international partners in the research network EIC.

The documents contain several mail changes from July 2014, which deal with the alleged “mirror” unveiling at the time. It is news from or to staff at the Qatar-based International Center for Sport Security (ICSS). The company claims to be fighting match-fixing and other manipulations in sports, but has itself been badly discredited. It is a propaganda instrument of the Emir of Qatar.

One of the directors was Chris Eaton, a former Interpol official who first moved to FIFA and then to the ICSS. According to the emails in “Football Leaks”, Eaton contacted Buschmann on July 1, 2014, two days after “Spiegel” published the alleged Perumal disclosure online, and asked him where he got the information from:

Buschmann replied that he had been following Perumal on Facebook for years and was in irregular contact with him there. He could not say exactly whether the games of Cameroon were really manipulated: Perumal had also mentioned two other game results, both of which were not correct. (There is no mention of this in the “Spiegel” article.)

Hi Chris, I know his FB-Account since 4 years, we stay unregulary in contact.

(…)

In generally: I doesn't know if the games of Cameroon were fixed. Wilson told me another two games and this results weren't right. He is a criminal figure and he loves to Tell lies. I wrote it exactly in this way in my hole story. Maybe he had luck with this game. Or he knew more and don't want
o talk about this.

Best regards from Sao Paulo, RB

When asked by Eaton, Buschmann repeated that Perumal had written to him before the game:

Yes Chris, he send it before the match. But he send two wrong results from other matches as well (one was complete wrong, the other had the right winner but a wrong result).

At that time, ICSS director Eaton and another former Interpol official, with whom he worked, made their own inquiries, the results of which they shared with FIFA. His partner also wrote - according to "Football Leaks" - to a senior
Facebook employee. He asked him whether the Facebook communication between "Spiegel" and Perumal had taken place before or after the Cameroon game. The Facebook man replied:

Off the record: it occured after the match, not before it.

It happened after the game, not before. A high-ranking Facebook employee who informally finds out such details via a messenger discussion, only with the note "off the records", for example: "don't rely on me" for a dubious organization? This is not absurd for connoisseurs of the scene. Technically, it is possible for Facebook employees to understand messenger conversations.

The positive news for Fifa was immediately communicated to the FIFA security chief, who was delighted with the “great news” and found that everything indicated that Buschmann and Perumal had communicated after the game anyway . Now, however, one is in an even stronger position to reject the alleged match-fixing claims. The World Cup was just entering its decisive phase.

The FIFA and ICSS people also referred each other to a blog post at the time, which argued in detail why everything argues against Perumal having manipulated the game.

Lack of plausibility


It was back then for experts and it is now incomprehensible why Perumal is said to have said what "The Mirror" claims. Bochum's chief criminal commissioner and proven match-fixing expert Michael Bahrs points out in an interview with the media that Perumal liked to brag about his activities. Today he distances himself from manipulation, but at the time he even advertised himself to be one of the biggest match fixers. His book was published shortly before the 2014 World Cup, detailing how he had manipulated several games.

Perumal dismissed the "mirror" description of the game Cameroon-Croatia immediately after publication as a "bullshit". "There is no reason why Perumal should deny this manipulation if he actually had anything to do with it," says Bahrs. "I was suspicious even then."

The fiction of first-class fact-checking
Journalist Matthew Karnitschnig met Perumal in Budapest in August 2014, not long after the unveiling. The Matchfixer also denied the "mirror" display to him. Karnitschnig wrote about it at the time in the "Wall Street Journal" and added:

A review of Perumal's Facebook logs by the Journal support his statement that the chat with the reporter took place three days after the June 18 Cameroon match, not before.

Karnitschnig says that Perumal first showed him a printout of the chat history, then the conversation himself on his mobile phone. The "mirror" did not want to comment on his request at the time.

The topic came up again in December 2018 when Relotius was exposed. Karnitschnig, now the Berlin office manager of the "Politico" magazine, was annoyed that Relotius was so much portrayed as an isolated case by "Spiegel" - also by Buschmann:

He published several tweets, in which he described the Perumal case again and accused the "Spiegel" of not taking the facts generally very precisely. The idea that "Spiegel" had a first-class fact-checking department was "always a fiction".

Evasive action
Buschmann found it difficult not only on Twitter to respond to the allegations. At that time, on December 20, 2018, we asked him and the “Spiegel” press office several questions by email. There were specific questions, for example whether the crucial chat of the “Spiegel” documentation was available for examination. The press office replied evasively.

Spokeswoman Anja zum Hingst only informed us that "the facts and the source situation were checked both by the documentation and by the legal department together with the editorial team", "as with all articles in the 'Spiegel'" (a wording that already at that time was daring about the Relotius case).

However, she pointed out something that we had not asked for: Perumal, fol
lowing the report, “contacted the“ Spiegel ”through a well-known press law firm and asked us to refrain from doing so. The legal department of the 'Spiegel' rejected the claims, and Mr. Perumal never replied. ”

This is interesting, but it does not prove anything - especially since Perumal in the meantime had other worries than suing the "Spiegel", not least financial ones.

When researching the machinations of the ICSS, about six months ago the “Football Leaks” data collection discovered the emails that underpin the doubts about the “mirror” representation. They were also leaked to the "Spiegel" and later to the Relotius Commission.

The "Spiegel" replied to our specific questions again in June rather evasively, but informed us in general: "The Relotius Commission has checked several documents on the article 'rotten apples' and could not find any evidence of counterfeiting."

A broken phone
At the press conference at which "Spiegel" presented the final report, news chief Stefan Weigel said for the commission: "We have dealt with this case, also, I can say, in detail, but have come to the conclusion that there is nothing for us There is evidence that justifies including it in the report. ”

How thoroughly the Commission really dealt with the case is unclear. Karnitschnig, who would nevertheless be an important interlocutor for an attempt at clarification, says that nobody has contacted him, neither from the "Spiegel" nor from the commission.

There is said to have been an internal order from the editor-in-chief to review the matter again. It should be heard that a fact checker, who is part of the Investigative Department and works closely with Buschmann in this function, should take care of this. She is also a member of the Football Leaks team. The special proximity between a documentary and a department had proven to be particularly problematic in the Relotius case. In this case, the team controlled itself. The "mirror" does not comment on our request.

The story is circulating in the "Spiegel" that Rafael Buschmann initially explained missing evidence for his presentation by saying that his cell phone fell first on the concrete floor and then into the water. He is said to have later said that his Facebook account had been hacked, so that the chat with Perumal could no longer be traced there. Buschmann and the “Spiegel” do not respond to our request.

Criticism from colleagues
Buschmann and his way of working are criticized internally not only because of the inconsistencies in his Perumal history. This applies both to journalists from the international research network EIC, who evaluate the "football leaks" with him and complain about unreasonable demands for cooperation, as well as to colleagues in-house who consider his way of working to be not serious enough. Several journalists accuse him of lack of care and a tendency to exaggerate things and to generously overlook disruptive details in favor of an attractive story. Buschmann did not answer our question whether he is aware of criticism of his work.

Buschmann causes great unrest in the editorial office, according to his critics. In some cases, colleagues who could contribute know-how on the topic would apparently be kept away from work and the “Football Leaks” data sets. The methods with which he procures exclusive material and then treasures it like
a personal treasure cause annoyance for some employees. When dealing with explosive material such as that which the Russian hacking group “Fancy Bear” passed to “Spiegel”, it also deals with media-ethical and legal questions. Not everyone is convinced that Buschmann always lives up to the associated responsibility.

On the other hand, Buschmann must have significant advocates - not least obviously the new editor-in-chief of “Spiegel”, Steffen Klusmann. Buschmann will shortly be promoted to spokesman for the redesigned investigative team. The long-time “Spiegel” investor reporters Jürgen Dahlkamp, Gunther Latsch and Jörg Schmitt will then leave the team and switch back to their departments. This suggests that they were not ready to work under Buschmann. And that, conversely, the "Spiegel" editor-in-chief apparently did not want to do without Buschmann's appointment despite this loss.

The Investigative Team was founded two years ago. The corresponding contracts expire at the end of July. Michael Wulzinger, Buschmann's journalist foster father and co-author of the “Football Leaks” books are to be added to the investigative department. He was the sports department manager when the Perumal story came out in 2014. The "mirror" did not want to comment on the personal details when asked.

The replica of the "mirror"
On Monday, we confronted the "Spiegel" and Rafael Buschmann with many specific questions on this topic - and only received a general answer (read the complete questions and answers here ). "Spiegel" spokeswoman Anja zum Hingst expressly replies to us on behalf of Rafael Buschmann, the editor-in-chief and the allegedly independent commission. She tells us:

Knowing all the reports, including those published by Mr Perumal and Mr Karnitschnig, the Commission has so far found no evidence of counterfeiting.


It is not a question of proving forgeries, but of the correctness of the "mirror" representation. When we asked what evidence there was, for example a screenshot or a protocol of Facebook communication, the "Spiegel" answered five years and a Relotius scandal only evasively:

We ask for your understanding that neither the Commission nor we comment on further research results, evidence and sources.

Mind you, in this case there can actually be no informants or secret sources that need to be protected. According to “Spiegel”, reporting is based on direct Facebook communication between the “Spiegel” author and the well-known Matchfixer.

The "mirror" continues:

Before publication, Rafael Buschmann disclosed his still valid documentary stock with documents and witnesses to the department head, documentation and legal department and it was then decided in agreement with the editor-in-chief to publish this article as it was. On this basis, Mr. Perumal's warning was also rejected, and he then did not pursue or make any further claims. The article "Rotten Apples" was, this impression sometimes arises in view of your questions, therefore not a lonely contribution by Rafael Buschmann.

Unanswered questions
It is a hair-raising and enigmatic story. Is it really conceivable that "Spiegel" published an article five years ago that is based on falsehoods - and does not want to admit this fact until today?

On the one hand, the evidence that the piece was based on a false claim is overwhelming: from the strange fact that the "Spiegel" never again reported on the Scoop and its consequences, about the denials and screenshots of Perumal, the mail of the Facebook employee in the "Football Leaks" up to the lack of plausibility of the whole story.

On the other hand, the "mirror" does not provide anything to support its presentation. But he insists with determination that she is right.

For five years, the news magazine has made no contribution to clarifying the inconsistencies and seriously answering questions about them. He bricked up and refused concrete evidence.

Why doesn't “Spiegel” editor-in-chief Klusmann, who has been in office since the beginning of 2019, not provide clarification? Why does he even promote Buschmann - although he should be aware of many concerns? How can it be that the Relotius Commission does not declare itself to be the case?

Klusmann had described the Relotius case as perhaps a "healing shock" that could make the "mirror" better. Dealing with the Buschmann case does not indicate that this is serious.
Click to expand...
Thank you. So basically it says that Buschmann doesn't let the facts get in the way of a good story. Well blow me down with a feather.
 
BringBackSwales said:
I would be surprised if he was untouchable?
Click to expand...
Why would you be surprised?
He has been doing exactly what he has been told, the emails being leaked are hardly his fault. How else did you want him to conduct international business, via smoke signal?

A quick google will also tell you more about just exactly who he is, hes not some office bod.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top