Fifa president defiant as European soccer’s governing body calls for an investigation
Dan Rookwood
Fifa president Sepp Blatter today faced calls for an investigation into bribery allegations surrounding his 1998 election.
Blatter’s supporters have been accused of offering cash incentives to the heads of national associations during his successful presidential campaign.
The 65-year-old was elected as successor to Joao Havelange in June 1998, beating Uefa president Lennart Johansson.
However, Somalian Football Association president Farah Addo has sensationally alleged he was offered money to switch his vote.
An investigation in Thursday’s London Daily Mail claims that 18 African votes promised to Johansson ended up going to Blatter “after Arab backers knocked on hotel doors in the dead of night”.
Addo, also the vice-president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), told the Mail: “We at CAF had decided to commit all 51 of our votes to Lennart Johansson from Uefa. Then I received a phone call from Somalia’s ambassador to one of the Gulf states.
“He said: ‘I have a friend who you know who wants to offer you $100 000 to switch your vote half in cash and the rest in sports equipment. They would send the cash to me or I could go to the Gulf to collect it’.
“The night before the election in Le Meridien hotel in Paris people were lining up to receive money. Some told me they got $5 000 before the vote and the same the next day, after Blatter won.” Addo reportedly rejected the offer.
Despite the fact that this cash-for-votes scandal may have affected Johansson’s presidential claims, the Uefa president dismissed the claims.
“I have heard these stories for four years. I don’t have to behave like a bad loser or listen to rumours,” Johansson said in Tokyo later on Thursday.
However, he did urge anyone with evidence to make it public.
“If someone has proof then they should bring it into the open. When that day comes, I will make a statement.”
Blatter left Tokyo early on Thursday, where Fifa’s World Cup organising committee had convened, and was unavailable for comment. Fifa said there would be no official statement until Blatter landed.
Mike Lee, communications director of Uefa, the European governing body which has led calls for a probe into Fifa’s finances, said an inquiry was needed into the fresh suspicions of corruption. “These are serious allegations which will have to be looked into,” said Lee.
“There is also a need for an investigation into the current state of Fifa’s finances and management and these will be the subject of an extraordinary meeting of the Fifa executive committee next week. We hope that answers will be given.”
Blatter is already under pressure to order an audit of Fifa’s books following the collapse of its former marketing partner ISL-ISMM, which was declared bankrupt by a Swiss court last May with debts of $1,2-billion.
“We will discuss finances at the extraordinary meeting next week,” promised Johansson.
Fifa will hold the extraordinary meeting on March 5, two days before an executive committee gathering, both of which will give people a chance to study Fifa’s finances.
The meeting follows an insistence by 13 of the 24 members that an investigations committee be set up to look into the early allegations, and Blatter has finally bowed to pressure and agreed. Of the 13 members, eight are European, four from Africa and one from Asia.
The calls have been led by Johansson, African confederation president Issa Hayatou, a Fifa vice-president, and Korean Football Association president Chung Mong-joon, also a Fifa vice-president.
The next Fifa presidential election is due to take place at the end of May at a Fifa Congress.
According to Andrew Jennings’s story in the Daily Mail, 18 African voters accepted bribes to vote for Blatter.
The vote was 80 to Johansson and 111 to Blatter. If Addo is correct and 18 votes were stolen, Blatter’s election was bogus.
Asked if Blatter knew what was being done in his name, Addo says: “Blatter knew about the campaign. He knew who were the campaigners.”
Did Blatter steal the election in Paris? After a long pause, Addo replies: “I will not say he stole it, but I can say that the people behind him tried to corrupt Africa.”
Through early 1998 corrupt soccer officials prayed that what became known as “the plane with the money bag” would visit their country.
This private jet carried Blatter around Africa. Not all who supported Blatter accepted bribes. For some, his promise that if he were elected South Africa would get the 2006 World Cup finals was enough.
A daily newspaper in Nairobi reported that Blatter’s visit was “a harvesting time” for soccer officials.
More money poured into the Blatter campaign from Saudi Arabia. The former president of the Swaziland football association, Adam “Bomba” Mthethwa, has admitted that all his expenses to travel to Paris for the congress were paid by someone from Saudi Arabia, but he did not want to name names “because it would have a negative effect”.