Johansson: Envelopes seen in 1998 election
Reuters - Wednesday 01 June 2011, 22:03
STOCKHOLM - Former UEFA president Lennart
Johansson, who stood against Sepp Blatter in the 1998 FIFA
presidential election, has told Swedish television that a close
associate had seen "brown envelopes" handed to delegates.
Blatter, 75, was re-elected as president of the world
governing body for a further four-year term on Wednesday against
a background of corruption scandals.
Johansson, 81, who headed the European governing body for 17
years, made his comments in an interview in a news programme on
the Swedish national broadcaster SVT.
"He came to me, someone who was close to me, that I
co-operated with for several years previously, who had seen how
brown envelopes were given from one to the other," he said.
"The interpretation was that it was to get them to vote for
Blatter. No proof was forthcoming so I decided not to refer to
it, because that could put me in an equally bad position, just
by believing rumours and making accusations that weren't
proved."
Johansson also said that Blatter's plan to allow the FIFA
congress to decide which notions would host future World Cups
was effectively a vote of no confidence in the FIFA Executive Committee.
"I think he's disapproving his own executive committee, his
nearest (colleagues)," he said.
"It's they who, before they make any decision, have to make
sure that they have all the details, on finances, on security,
on communications, on hotels, on everything and have a clear
picture of who the best candidates are."