FORMER FIFA executive committee member Chuck Blazer told a U.S. federal judge that he and others on the governing body’s ruling panel agreed to receive bribes to vote for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup. Prosecutors unsealed the transcript yesterday of the 2013 hearing in U.S. District Court during which Blazer had agreed to plead guilty to racketeering and other charges.
Blazer, the former ‘No. 2’ official of football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, said, “I and others on the FIFA executive committee agreed to accept bribes in conjunction with the selection of South Africa as the host nation for the 2010 World Cup”
Blazer also said he arranged bribes around 1992 in the vote for which country would host the 1998 World Cup.
“I agreed with other persons in or around 1992 to facilitate the acceptance of a bribe in conjunction with the selection of the host nation for the 1998 World Cup. I and others agree that I or a co-conspirator would commit at least two acts of racketeering activity. Beginning in, or around, 2004 and continuing to 2011, I and others on the FIFA executive committee agreed to accept bribes in conjunction with the selection of South Africa as the host nation for the 2010 World Cup,” Blazer said in his testimony.
He added “While acting in our official capacities we agreed to participate in a scheme to defraud FIFA and CONCACF on the right to honest services by taking undisclosed bribes.”
Bribes and kickbacks, according to Blazer, were also commonplace in the CONCACAF tournaments run in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
The 70-year-old, now said to be seriously ill, revealed that he had accepted payments for the CONCACAF affiliated Gold Cups (equivalent to the European Championship or the African Cup of Nations) for a decade.
He claimed: “In and around 1993 and continuing through the early 2000s I and others agreed to accept bribes and kickbacks in conjunction with the broadcast and other rights to the 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2003 Gold Cups.”
Blazer agreed to cooperate with the U.S. investigation which has engulfed FIFA in the past week and led to Blatter’s resigning on Tuesday after 17 years at the head of world football.
Last week 14 persons were indicted on charges of racketeering and money-laundering. Four others had already been charged, including Blazer.
The U.S. Justice Department alleges they accepted bribes and kickbacks estimated at more than $150 million over a 24-year period.
The FIFA scandal has led to question marks being placed over the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in Russia and Qatar, with many commentators suggesting the bidding process for those tournaments should be held again. (London Evening Standard)