World football governing body FIFA has indicated that South Africa paid a bribe of $10 million to win the rights to host the World Cup in 2010.
FIFA submitted documents to US authorities in attempt to recover the money that was used by corrupt FIFA executive committee officials.
Part of the document from FIFA read:
‘It is now apparent that multiple members of FIFA’s Executive Committee abused their positions and sold their votes on multiple occasions. As the Grand Jury alleged in the Superseding Indictment in United States v. Hawit, 15-cr-252 (E.D.N.Y. Nov. 25, 2015), Dkt. No.102, Defendant Jack Warner, together with his co-conspirators Charles Blazer (who has admitted his crimes and pleaded guilty), Defendant Warner’s son Daryan Warner, and other co-conspirators not named in the Superseding Indictment, engineered a $10 million payoff in exchange for Executive Committee votes regarding where the 2010 FIFA World CupTM would be hosted.
FIFA’s position contradicts the South African government which has always insisted that nothing was amiss about the $10 million pay-out with Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula saying it was not a bribe.
New FIFA president Gianni Infatino said in a statement that they wanted to get the money back. “The monies they (FIFA officials) pocketed belonged to global football and were meant for the development and promotion of the game.
“Fifa as the world governing body of football wants that money back and we are determined to get it no matter how long it takes.”