The UK's legal authorities should "follow the money" to step up action against anyone who may have been part of the FIFA corruption scandal, MPs have been told.
With the US and Swiss authorities taking the lead in exposing corruption at the core of football's world governing body, the Culture select committee began its parliamentary inquiry into how Britain can play its part in a global crackdown on corruption.
Committee chairman Jesse Norman asked sports ethics campaigner Deborah Unger "what more could be done by UK legal authorities ... to prosecute individuals, go after the sponsors whose money may have been used complicitly in this and to look at issues of bribery and corruption".
Ms Unger, of the corruption and sports project Transparency International, said there is room for authorities such as the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to get involved.
She said: "They (UK authorities) could use the follow-the-money tools that are already here."
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) could "come in and ask questions" about where funds from corruption are used, she suggested.
Ms Unger said: "Now you have politically-exposed people you have more of a chance to ask those questions.
"Beneficial ownership - has any money been spent in the UK on luxury goods and items and property?
"Those questions can be asked but it is very very hard to go after people directly for the authorities at this point without knowing whether the money has come through the UK but you have to start asking questions."
Fellow campaigner Jamie Fuller argued pressure also needs to be impose by working with other governments to "try to generate some leadership" .
FIFA has come under mounting pressure following a series of arrests, including seven of its officials in Zurich in May. The arrests came after an FBI investigation and separate probes by Swiss authorities into the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
There were also revelations of bribes being paid for votes for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and increasing concerns from FIFA's sponsors.
Earlier this week US attorney general Loretta Lynch warned new arrests and charges are likely.
Lynch, speaking in Zurich, said new charges and arrests against "individuals and entities" were anticipated.
Meanwhile, the Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber confirmed that an investigation is taking place into FIFA's sale of World Cup TV rights - signed off by outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter - to disgraced former official Jack Warner for a fraction of their true worth.
Mr Fuller told the MPs that attempts to reform FIFA were simply "circling the wagons" and "rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic".
He argued it needs to be dealt with by outside experts on governance and "taken out of the hands of the FIFA family and the sports family."
Earlier Conservative MP Damian Collins suggested that "everyone in the world has had to play the FIFA game to some extent or another" and that the possibility of the SFO "doing more within their jurisdiction is important".
Checking whether a payment from the Australian football association to Warner "was routed via the UK as part of the transaction" would "clearly be something the SFO would have the power to investigate".
The committee is to ask FIFA sponsors McDonald's, Visa, Coca Cola and Budweiser to give evidence.
Mr Fuller also claimed that "bad leadership and a lack of priorities" in FIFA meant that the chance to tackle indentured slavery and human rights abuses in the Middle East has been lost.
Talks over staging the 2022 World Cup in Qatar could have made bold steps to tackle this pressing issue, he claimed.
Mr Fuller said: "This is the power of sport. Sport can play a significant role in eradicating apartheid from South Africa (and) sport can bring that progress to the Middle East.
"Not only could the discussion have been elevated but progress could have been made in the eradication of indentured slavery in Qatar - and t hat would have been a major step along the way of eradicating it throughout the Middle East."
Source: PA
