New bribery allegations rock Fifa 25/10/2010 |
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Fifa is to investigate reports that its former secretary-general Michel Zen-Ruffinen has identified executive committee members who are open to bribery.
The claims come as the bidders for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups prepare to gather in Zurich for the International Football Arena conference and the executive committee decides the rules governing the vote on December 2.
Zen-Ruffinen, who was forced out of Fifa in 2002 after accusing president Sepp Blatter of mismanagement, is alleged to have told Sunday Times undercover reporters that several of the 24 members of the Fifa executive committee were open to corruption.
According to the report, supported by secretly filmed footage of a meeting with undercover reporters posing as lobbyists, Zen-Ruffinen named two Fifa executive committee members who could be bought and a third of whom he said: "He's the guy you can have with the ladies and not with money."
Zen-Ruffinen, who allegedly offered to work as a fixer for the fictional lobbying company, described a fourth member as "the biggest gangster you will find on earth" and said he believed the minimum fee for this person would be $500,000 (£319,000).
Zen-Ruffinen told the Sunday Times that many of his comments were simply "impressions" of the goings-on inside Fifa circles and that he had "exaggerated" comments to keep the businessmen interested. He said he was "totally against" bribery and offered only to make introductions.
The Nigerian executive committee member, Amos Adamu, and the Oceania representative, Reynald Temarii, remain provisionally suspended by Fifa while its ethics committee investigates allegations that they effectively offered to sell their votes. Both Adamu and Temarii, provisionally suspended along with four other Fifa officials, have protested their innocence.
The 2018 contest to host the World Cup is between England, Russia and the joint bids of Belgium-Holland and Spain-Portugal. The 2022 race involves the US, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Qatar.
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