Fifa suspends officials at centre of voting scandal
Fifa have suspended the two officials who were going to exchange their 2018 World Cup vote for cash.
The Sunday Times reported that Amos Adamu, the Nigeria representative, and Reynald Temarii, the Ocenia representative, were going to give their vote in exchange for money, with Adamu getting £500,000 to use on four artificial pitches in Nigeria and agreeing to give his vote to the USA, while Temarii would receive £1.5million to fund a sports academy.
Four other Fifa officials who were seen in the video footage have also been suspended, those being Slim Aloulou, Amadou Diakite, Ahongalu Fusimalohi and Ismael Bhamjee.
Ethics Committee chairman Claudio Sulser said: “The decision to provisionally suspend these officials is fully justified and should not be put in question. The evidence that has been presented to us today has led us to take provisional measure, as we considered that the conditions were definitely met to take this decision and we deem that it is crucial to protect the integrity of 2018 and 2022 Fifa World Cup bidding process.
“We are determined to have zero tolerance for any breach of the code of ethics.”
Fifa president Sepp Blatter has defended football’s governing body and has vowed to clear out the “devils”.
“As the president of Fifa I appeal to and I expect all members not only of the Fifa executive committee but all members of the Fifa family to behave in an honest, sincere and respectful manner because football is based on discipline, respect, fair play and solidarity,” he said.
“We have the necessary tools to intervene when necessary and that is what we have done today. I was a little bit surprised that you say 'is Fifa corrupt?'
“Ladies and gentleman, in the world of sport, Fifa is actually a well-recognised organisation and institution and if there are some activities that are against the ethics and the morals that's why the ethics committee came in. Trust us and you will see confidence will be restored.
“It's a sad day for football and a sad day for life because you can't always have sunny days. This is the bad side of football. But the good side of football is that we have immediately reacted. The ethics committee have carried out their work in a very short time and have already reached initial decisions.
“Our society is full of devils and these devils you find them in football, and we have to fight for fair play, we have to fight for respect and especially we have to fight that the people in charge of Fifa behave as they should do and if this is not the case then we have to intervene,” Blatter added.
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