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International Football

FIFA: Former Egypt FA President Says Jack Warner Sought $7M Bribe

Former Egypt FA President Al-Dashouri Harb said on Sunday that former FIFA VP Jack Warner asked for $7M from Egypt, "suggesting it could help with Egypt's bid to host the 2010 World Cup," according to Bayoumy & Kalin of REUTERS. Harb said that Warner "expressed interest to him in being an adviser to Egypt's bid and had said the money could be used" to support poor FAs in Latin American countries. Harb quoted Warner as saying at a meeting in the United Arab Emirates, "I have many votes in Latin America and I could be your adviser in Europe. I have many friends (there)." Harb said that Warner asked for $7M, saying that he would "not take the money for himself" (REUTERS, 6/7). In London, Gary Al-Smith wrote according to an Egyptian sports official, the country "refused to pay" a $7M bribe. Egypt was left "crestfallen after failing to obtain a single vote" in the '04 polls. Former Egypt Sports Minister Aley Eddine Helal said, "I did not imagine that FIFA was so corrupt." Warner, charged by the U.S. over "alleged corruption" at FIFA, has "repeatedly denied wrongdoing." Helal, who was head of the 2010 bid committee, said, "I told the EFA president that Egypt could not participate in such a crime" (GUARDIAN, 6/5). The AFP reported the BBC also claimed that the 72-year-old Trinidadian "pocketed" a $10M payment made by South Africa through FIFA that was "intended to pay for football development for the African diaspora in the Caribbean." Helal: "Warner was the one who approached us from FIFA. He said he could guarantee us seven votes ... He asked for $1 million for each vote" (AFP, 6/8). The BBC reported FIFA President Sepp Blatter's Special Advisor Guido Tognoni has "suggested" that Russia and Qatar "may have had to pay bribes to secure their World Cups." Tognoni worked "extremely closely" with Blatter during his second term. Tognoni: "In FIFA, for many years, you could only reach your goal by taking dollars in your hands" (BBC, 6/8). 

ONE-MAN CIRCUS: In N.Y., Jeré Longman wrote Trinidad & Tobago PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar "walked out of a session of Parliament on Friday, angrily chastising a fellow politician and former ally," Warner, who "finds himself and his two sons at the center of soccer’s widespread corruption scandal." Persad-Bissessar: "Here we are now, a focus of the international world, not for the good and great things but because of the actions of one man." His sons, Daryan and Daryll Warner, have "pleaded guilty to related charges and have cooperated with the authorities." Perhaps nothing "matches the Shakespearean theater of the Warner family: the drama of accused deceit, fraud and self-enrichment; the comedy intended and unintended; and the possibility that two sons have turned against their father or have agreed to take the fall to protect a beleaguered patriarch." Trinidad Sports Minister Brent Sancho said, "You have to pinch yourself when you go to bed at night. You think you’re writing a fiction novel. It's hard to believe what transpired and for such a long period of time" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/7). 

THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE: BLOOMBERG's Alex Duff wrote execs from national football organizations and sports groups that dealt with the body now "battered by a corruption scandal" said that FIFA officials and staff "spent years avoiding conflict, using a culture of favor-swapping to create a governance model resembling a cozy private club." FIFA officials "get their seats by virtue of the power within the respective regional confederations." That is "not the way to run an organization" that generates as much as $5B from each World Cup, according to former Brazil midfielder Zico. He said that the system "is all about exchanging favors." Zico: "When you come into soccer politics, you have to repay the person who invited you." FIFA’s middle managers, who are based at its HQ in Zurich, have also been "wary of upsetting the status quo during Blatter’s presidency," according to Gregor Reiter, CEO of Deutsche Fussballspieler-Vermittler Vereinigung, the German association of agents. Reiter: "FIFA has plenty of administrators who are young and intelligent but the one reply I also got when dealing with them: we need permission from Blatter, or it's up to Blatter. They are highly paid people who live in a great city and they don’t want to bite the hand that feeds them" (BLOOMBERG, 6/7). 

BLATTER 'NOT INVOLVED': The BBC reported FA of Wales CEO Jonathan Ford said that Blatter "has not been involved in corruption" at FIFA. Ford: "I would probably draw a line between the corruption that has happened with the officials and Mr. Blatter, because I honestly do not believe that Mr. Blatter has been involved in that. This is about the FIFA officials. Mr. Blatter himself, who I know personally and have worked with for many years now ... he's a fantastic operator, he is a very, very decent person himself" (BBC, 6/8).

LENDING A HAND: In Glasgow, Mark McGivern reported Scottish football bosses have "offered to help in the FBI investigation into the football corruption scandal." The Scottish FA intervention came after a BBC investigation revealed that Warner had "asked members of their staff to pay a sum" of around £75,000 into his personal bank account in '04. The "alleged incident occurred" during a game between Trinidad & Tobago and Scotland at Edinburgh's Easter Road stadium. Former SFA President John McBeth claimed Warner "attempted to pocket a fee that had been agreed to cover the expenses of the Trinidad & Tobago team." McBeth said that he "refused the request, which Warner has denied" (Scotland DAILY RECORD, 6/8).

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