By Matt Scott
January 17 – The FIFA presidential candidate Tokyo Sexwale has denied French-media accusations he received kickbacks worth hundreds of millions of dollars over a transaction involving a Canadian mining company in 2007.
Sexwale’s alleged affairs are the subject of the France 3 television programme “Pièces à Convictions” surrounding the purchase of the uranium-mining company UraMin, which had extensive operations in Africa, by the French conglomerate Areva. They were also being reported on Tuesday in the newspaper Nouvel Observateur.
The French media claims Sexwale received $210 million in sweeteners in the deal, which his lawyer has strenuously denied. “These allegations are absolutely execrable and are nothing but pure fantasy,” Sexwale’s lawyer wrote in a letter to France 3.
The Uramin claims emerged as a French judicial inquiry led by Renaud van Ruymbeke into the $2.5 billion purchase of the company by Areva is under way. It is alleged that figures who held influence over the ruling African National Congress party personally benefited from the sale as the buyer sought to curry favour over a separate contract for a number of nuclear power stations being discussed in South Africa.
Sexwale was neither an employee nor a shareholder in Uramin, although French media alleged he received payments relating to the sale into a Bermuda bank account via a Cayman Islands investment vehicle. Sexwale denies the allegations.
Ten days before the FIFA election the reports will come as an embarrassment to the South African, whom the FBI questioned last December over allegations of a $10m corrupt payment to Jack Warner ahead of his nation’s hosting of the 2010 World Cup. He served as a member of the tournament’s organising committee.
Sexwale is one of only five still standing for the FIFA presidential election. The judicial inquiry in France dates back as far as last May. In October 2015 Sexwale passed the fit-and-proper–persons tests undertaken by FIFA in vetting candidates.
Sexwale’s campaign recently has slowed and he has often been noticeable by his absence on the campaign trail. Two weeks ago he failed to win the backing of the African football confederation, sparking renewed speculation that he was on the verge of pulling out of the election.
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