Triesman accuses FIFA members of seeking favours

Shocked but in need of evidence: FIFA chief Blatter

Triesman was giving evidence on Tuesday to a British parliamentary inquiry into the reasons why England failed in their bid to secure the finals which were awarded to Russia last December.

British Members of Parliament involved in the inquiry also revealed the names of two other FIFA Executive Committe members who, it is alleged, were paid $1.5 million to vote for Qatar's successful 2022 World Cup bid.

Conservative MP Damian Collins said the committee had evidence from the Sunday Times newspaper which it would publish that FIFA vice-president Issa Hayatou of Cameroon and Jacques Anouma of the Ivory Coast were paid by Qatar.

Two other executive committee members were banned by FIFA's Ethics Committee last year after a previous Sunday Times investigation into the World Cup bidding process. The claims are an embarrassment for the game's governing body, with a total eight of its 24-strong key decision-making executive committee having now been accused by the British media or its parliamentary representatives of corruption.

Its 75-year-old president Sepp Blatter will stand for a further four-year term at its helm on June 1 in Zurich. He was first elected in 1998. Asian Football Confederation chief Mohamed Bin Hammam is opposing him.

Triesman spoke at the parliamentary inquiry of the ‘improper and unethical behaviour’ by the four men he named. Giving exact details about the conversations, he said Warner asked for 2.5 million pounds ($4.09 million) to be ‘channelled through me’ for an education centre in his home country Trinidad and Trinidad. After the Haiti earthquake struck leaving that country devastated, Warner then asked Triesman for 500,000 pounds to buy Haiti World Cup TV rights.

Triesman said Paraguayan Leoz had requested a knighthood in return for his vote while Teixeira told him, “Come and tell me what you have for me.”

Thai Makudi wanted control of the television rights for a proposed Thailand versus England friendly. “We had a number of conversations with Mr Makudi, telephone conversations,” Triesman said.

“These were some of the things that were put to me personally, sometimes in the presence of others, which in my view did not represent proper and ethical behaviour on the part of members of the executive committee,” he added. FIFA president Blatter responded to Triesman's comment at a news conference in Zurich. “I was shocked ... but one has to see the evidence,” Blatter said.

“There is a new round of information, give us time to digest that and start the investigation by asking for evidence on what has been said.

“I repeat, we must have the evidence and we will react immediately against all those in breach of the ethics code rules.”

Collins clarified the allegations against Hayatou and Anouma. “The Sunday Times submission, and this is to be published by us later, claims that $1.5 million was paid to FIFA executive committee members Issa Hayatou and Jacques Anouma who went on to vote for Qatar 2022,” he said, adding that the submission also said that Qatar employed a fixer to arrange deals with African members for their votes.