/ 13 September 2006

Fifa to act on ticket scandal

Fifa vice-president Jack Warner and his son face a day of destiny on Friday as global football’s governing body investigates corruption and embezzlement accusations against the pair.

They are both accused of making money through the illegal sale of World Cup tickets and Fifa is due to examine a report into the affair.

Fifa spokesperson Andreas Herren confirmed on Wednesday that the report, commissioned in January from auditors Ernst and Young, would be on the table at a session of the Fifa Executive Committee on September 15.

In the lead up to the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Warner’s son Daryan purportedly made $927 000 from resales of tickets that he had obtained thanks to his father’s Fifa connections.

Daryan Warner runs a travel agency in Trinidad and Tobago and was given the sole rights to sell the ticket allocation set aside for the Caribbean island nation, which had qualified for the World Cup for the first time.

That sparked allegations that Jack Warner had violated the Fifa code of ethics.

Shortly after the World Cup kicked off in June, Fifa was embarrassed after one of its officials admitted selling tickets for a match involving England for three times their face value.

Ismail Bhamjee, a Botswanan member of the powerful 25-member Fifa executive, said he had sold 12 category one tickets for the England vs Trinidad and Tobago match for â,¬300 each. They had a face value of â,¬100.

Bhamjee was forced to resign immediately from all World Cup-related duties and ordered to leave Germany as soon as possible.

Fifa has faced allegations that it destroyed documents related to the case, but Herren told Agence France-Presse that the claims were untrue. — Sapa-AFP