Lord Triesman accuses Fifa executives of 'unethical behaviour'

[mc_squared]

Lord Triesman accuses Fifa executives of 'unethical behaviour'

 

• Former FA chair lifts lid on 2018 World Cup bid

• Jack Warner said to have wanted £2.5m to build school

 

 

 

 

• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 10 May 2011 13.16 BST <li class="history">Article history Lord Triesman was Football Association chairman between 2008 and May last year. Photograph: Jorge Adorno/Reuters
   
  Lord Triesman, the former Football Association and England 2018 chairman, has accused several Fifa executive committee members of "improper and unethical" behaviour.
  He told the select committee looking into football that the Fifa vice-president Jack Warner asked for money – suggested to be £2.5m – to build an education centre in Trinidad with the cash to be channelled through him, and later £500,000 to buy Haiti's World Cup TV rights for the earthquake-hit nation, also to go through Warner.
  Paraguay's Fifa member, Nicolás Leoz, asked for a knighthood, he alleged, while Brazil's Fifa member, Ricardo Teixeira, asked Triesman to "come and tell me what you have got for me", although Triesman said the comment could be open to interpretation.
  Thailand's Fifa member, Worawi Makudi, wanted to be given the TV rights to a friendly between England and the Thai national team, said Triesman.
  Warner said the allegations made against him by Triesman were "a piece of nonsense". He told Sky Sports News that Triesman "no doubt feels he can revive his dying political career by mentioning that piece of foolishness".
  Warner said: "I've never asked Triesman nor any other person, Englishman or otherwise, for any money for my vote at any time. In the English World Cup campaign, before he [Triesman] was unceremoniously kicked out, I've spoken to him on his initiative on only three occasions, while I have spoken to his other colleagues on other occasions and not one of his colleagues will ever corroborate his bit of trivia." Warner added: "This is the last I intend to say on this matter."
  The Tory MP Damian Collins said that evidence submitted by the Sunday Times, which the committee will publish, claimed that the Fifa vice-president Issa Hayatou from Cameroon and Jacques Anouma from Ivory Coast were paid $1.5m (£900,000) by Qatar. Fifa's ethics committee last year banned two other executive committee members after a Sunday Times investigation into World Cup bidding.
  Collins said: "The Sunday Times' submission, and this is to be published by us later, claims that $1.5m was paid to Fifa executive committee members Issa Hayatou and Jacques Anouma who went on to vote for Qatar."
  Collins said the submission claimed Qatar specifically employed a fixer to arrange deals with African members for their votes.
  Mike Lee, the London-based public relations consultant who worked on Qatar's bid, said he was unaware of any payments being made. Lee, formerly communications director of the Premier League, Uefa and London's 2012 Olympic bid, told MPs: "I was working at the highest level of that bid and talking at length with the chairman and CEO and saw no evidence of any of these allegations. My experience is I would have had a sense if such things were going on and I had no sense of that."
  Meanwhile, asked why he did not report the incidents to Fifa, Triesman said he feared that would damage the England bid but admitted he should have done so and pushed for action. "The point was not pressed," he said. "And I think, in retrospect, we would have burned off our chances. In retrospect that was not the right view to take and I accept that."
  John Whittingdale, chairman of the committee, said he would now be writing to the Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, to launch an investigation into the evidence "as a matter of urgency". Triesman added that he would undertake to provide his evidence to any Fifa inquiry.
  Blatter has promised to address the latest allegations, telling Sky Sports News: "If this is true, I will fight this.
  "I am fighting for Fifa to clean Fifa. I cannot answer for individual members of our committee. I cannot say if they are all angels or if they are all devils."
  Asked whether the Prime Minister would like an inquiry into Lord Triesman's claims, David Cameron's official spokesman said: "There is an investigation into these allegations. Sepp Blatter has said that these claims are being investigated and they will take action if there is evidence of wrong-doing. That is something we welcome.
  "Ultimately, [Fifa] are the world governing body of football and it is for them, if need be, to do the things that they need to do to put their house in order. Clearly they need to reassure the sporting public and fans that there is no suggestion of corruption or any problems with competition for these kinds of major sporting events."
   
   
  

[squibby92]

What I don't get is why did they wait till now to come out with this? As much as I wanted the world cup in England, their decision has been made, no matter what it's not going to change FIFA's mind. We need to stop being bitter about it and get over it. We know FIFA is corrupted to the core and hopefully if Blatter was being honest they're sorting it out. The FA need to see that it's money and 'favours' that get you what you want these days anyway otherwise we probably would've got the 2018 world cup and USA or Australia would've got 2022