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Fifa pair to face ethics inquiry

25th May 2011

Fifa is investigating allegations against four officials, including vice-president Jack Warner and presidential candidate Mohamed bin Hammam.
The allegations, including bribery, were made by Fifa executive committee member Chuck Blazer.
Blazer claims Fifa's code of ethics was violated at a meeting "apparently organised" by Bin Hammam and Warner.

Bin Hammam has strongly denied the allegations, saying he was "confident that there is no charge to answer".
The statement on his website continued: "This has been a difficult and painful day for me today.
"But, if there is even the slightest justice in the world, these allegations will vanish in the wind. This move is little more than a tactic being used by those who have no confidence in their own ability to emerge successfully from the Fifa presidential election.

"I remain deeply indebted to Mr Warner for his sense of fair play because without his support and understanding I would not have been able to meet with several important Member Associations of Fifa to discuss my election manifesto.
"Here I completely deny any allegations of wrongdoing either intentionally or unknowingly while I was in the Caribbean.

"I will offer Mr Warner my full support in ensuring we are discharged honourably by the Fifa Ethics Committee, a body which I hold in the highest esteem.
"I am confident that there is no charge to answer and that I will be free to stand in the Fifa presidential election on 1 June as originally planned."
The other two officials are Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester from the Caribbean Football Union.
The CFU represents 25 Fifa member nations as well as five territories not affiliated to Fifa.

With so many allegations of wrongdoing now swirling around - is it right for Fifa to press ahead with Wednesday's presidential election?
The meeting, on 10 and 11 May, was in relation to the Fifa presidential election which takes place on 1 June.

Bin Hammam, the president of the Asian Football Confederation, is running against current president Sepp Blatter to be the new head of football's world governing body.
The four officials have been called to a hearing of Fifa's ethics committee in Zurich on 29 May.
Fifa has announced that Claudio Sulser, the head of the ethics committee, will not take charge of the hearing as he shares Swiss nationality with Bin Hammam's presidential rival Blatter.
The committee's deputy chairman Petrus Damaseb of Namibia will instead chair proceedings.

The Fifa statement read: "On May 24 2011, Fifa executive committee member and Concacaf general secretary Chuck Blazer reported to Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke possible violations of the Fifa code of ethics allegedly committed by officials.
"In particular, the report referred to a special meeting of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), apparently organised jointly by Fifa vice-president Jack A. Warner and Fifa executive committee member Mohamed Bin Hammam, which took place on May 10 and 11 2011.

"This meeting was linked to the upcoming Fifa presidential election.
"In view of the facts alleged in this report, which include bribery allegations, Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke, in compliance with art. 16 of the Fifa code of ethics, yesterday requested the Fifa ethics committee to open ethics proceedings."

The allegations - levelled by Warner's longtime Concacaf ally Blazer - are likely to wreck Bin Hammam's already fading hopes of defeating Blatter in the vote by Fifa's 208 national members.
"The intriguing part of this is the person who has brought the complaints, Chuck Blazer," former Sports Minister Richard Caborn told the BBC.
"He obviously has been on the inside track in Fifa for many, many years. He's very close to Jack Warner. What his motives are, we will have to wait and see.
"It could well be the start of a total look at how Fifa is run in the future.

"Whether the pressure is now telling and that people are saying: 'We have now got to make this organisation fit for purpose.'"
News of the inquiry comes soon after Fifa launched a separate investigation into claims made by former Football Association and England 2018 World Cup bid chairman Lord Triesman.
Triesman alleged that four Fifa members - Warner, Nicolas Leoz, Ricardo Teixeira and Worawi Makudi - sought "bribes" in return for backing England's failed 2018 World Cup bid.
Warner said the allegations made against him by Triesman were "a piece of nonsense".

British MPs at the culture, media and sport committee in the House of Commons have also claimed that Confederation of African Football (Caf) president Issa Hayatou and executive committee member Jacques Anouma took bribes related to Qatar's 2022 World Cup bid.
Both men have denied the claims while Qatar 2022 World Cup officials described allegations they paid bribes in return for votes as "distressing, insulting and incomprehensible".
On Sunday, Blatter angrily denied that Fifa is corrupt and added there is no evidence to support recent accusations of wrongdoing.
Blatter's campaign adviser, Brian Alexander, said the Fifa president would not comment on the case.

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