Temarii welcomes FIFA investigation
Reuters - Monday 18 October 2010, 05:18
SINGAPORE - FIFA vice-president Reynald
Temarii welcomes a "full and thorough investigation" into
newspaper claims he offered to sell his vote in the contest to
host the 2018 World Cup, his confederation said on
Monday.
Britain's Sunday Times newspaper said Oceania Football
Confederation (OFC) president Temarii and Nigeria's Amos Adamu
- both members of world football governing body FIFA's executive
committee - had offered to sell their votes when approached by
reporters posing as lobbyists for an American consortium.
The newspaper report said Adamu was filmed asking for
500,000 pounds for a personal project and that
Tahitian Temarii asked an undercover reporter in Auckland for
NZ$3m ($2.27 million) to fund a sports academy at the OFC's
headquarters.
"Further to information made public by The Sunday Times,
the OFC President and FIFA Vice President Reynald Temarii will
cooperate fully with the FIFA Ethics Committee and the FIFA
Secretary General," a statement from the OFC said.
"Reynald Temarii welcomes a full and thorough investigation
so that all the facts can be heard."
The OFC said it would not comment further until the
findings of the FIFA Ethics Committee have been released.
FIFA will decide on December 2 in Zurich which countries will
host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. The choices will be made by
the 24-strong executive committee.
"UNPLEASANT SITUATION"
However a source close to the executive, who asked not to
be named, said both Adamu and Temarii could find themselves
suspended or off the committee by then if the claims against
them were substantiated.
"FIFA will not allow anyone or anything to damage the
reputation of the voting procedure and it could be that 22 men
might make the decision, not 24," the source said.
England and Russia are bidding for the 2018 finals along
with joint bids from Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands.
The candidates for 2022 are the United States, Japan, South
Korea, Qatar and Australia.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter appealed to his executive
committee members to stay silent as he launched an
investigation.
"I am sorry to have to inform you of a very unpleasant
situation which has developed in relation to an article
published... in the Sunday Times, entitled 'World Cup votes
for sale'," Blatter wrote at www.fifa.com.
"I will keep you duly informed of any further developments.
In the meantime, I would like to ask you to refrain from making
any public comments on this matter."