FIFA to probe Warner amid more 'bribery allegations'

ZURICH (AP):

With FIFA's presidential election just a week away, football's governing body said yesterday it is investigating challenger Mohamed bin Hammam for bribery in his campaign to unseat Sepp Blatter.

FIFA summoned Asian Football Confederation leader bin Hammam and FIFA vice-president Jack Warner to an ethics hearing on Sunday, to face allegations of corruption during the Qatari official's campaign visit to Trinidad two weeks ago.

The allegations - levelled by Warner's long-time ally, Chuck Blazer, of the United States - could well wreck bin Hammam's already fading hopes of defeating Blatter in the June 1 vote by FIFA's 208 national members.

Bin Hammam faces being provisionally suspended from all football duties by the FIFA ethics committee.

He denied wrongdoing and suggested, on "a difficult and painful day for me", that the accusations were instigated by Blatter's camp.

"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," bin Hammam wrote in a statement published on his official website.

Warner also rejected the allegations and said he was "unaware of the particulars" of FIFA's investigation. The veteran FIFA official also questioned why the case was made public now.

"It is interesting to note the timing of these allegations and the hearing scheduled days before the FIFA presidential elections," Warner said in a statement.

Blazer's report, which FIFA said "include bribery allegations", prompted secretary general Jerome Valcke to ask the governing body's ethics committee to investigate.

Blazer, the highest-ranked American in world football, told The Associated Press he did not want to comment further ahead of Sunday's hearing, involving his long-standing FIFA executive committee colleagues.

"We filed a comprehensive file covering what we believe to be various types of violations," Blazer said.

The ethics panel can provisionally suspend officials under suspicion, while it gathers evidence for a full hearing. It took this path when investigating two of bin Hammam's FIFA executive committee colleagues prior to the 2018 and 2022 World Cup votes last December.

Bin Hammam, under the terms of a provisional ban, could effectively be barred as an election candidate.

allegations will vanish

"I am confident that there is no charge to answer and that I will be free to stand ... as originally planned," bin Hammam wrote. "If there is even the slightest justice in the world, these allegations will vanish in the wind."

FIFA said the allegations related to bin Hammam's meeting with 25 Caribbean football leaders on May 10-11 in Warner's native Trinidad to lobby for support.

"This meeting was linked to the upcoming FIFA presidential election," FIFA said.

Blatter's campaign adviser, Brian Alexander, said the FIFA president would not comment on the case.

Bin Hammam helped organise the hastily arranged meeting after he was unable to attend the annual congress of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) one week earlier in Miami.

The Qatari official was denied a visa to enter the US, despite travelling on a diplomatic passport. His campaign's administrative oversight left Blatter a clear run to lobby for votes in Miami.

Warner has long been a key powerbroker in FIFA politics and his backing was seen as vital to bin Hammam's hopes. Blatter has been endorsed by confederation leaders in Africa, Europe, Oceania and South America.

Warner's 35-member confederation has not yet officially backed either candidate.

One Caribbean official who attended the meeting in Trinidad told the AP that bin Hammam only gave a power point presentation and had dinner with delegates.

"I was actually surprised to hear some of the things I'm hearing in the press and seeing," said David Hinds, the general secretary of the Barbados Football Association. "It was just a presentation. A presentation that he did in one of the ballrooms. And that was it. We had dinner that evening and he flew out and then we went home."