By Andrew Warshaw
May 26 – Mohamed Bin Hammam fought back in the increasingly bitter FIFA election battle today by astonishingly calling for Sepp Blatter himself to be investigated as part of the spiralling bribery scandal.
Bin Hammam urged the FIFA Ethics panel, which is investigating the Qatari over allegations he tried to bribe voters in the Caribbean, to also examine Blatter’s conduct.
Bin Hammam and FIFA’s senior vice-president Jack Warner both appear before the Ethics Committee on Sunday (May 29) charged with breaking the organisation’s strict code of ethics.
But in a staggering counter-claim, bin Hammam says the evidence submitted to FIFA about his own alleged misconduct means Blatter himself broke FIFA’s code of ethics by not reporting the apparent corruption attempt.
In what appeared to be a last-ditch attempt by bin Hammam to save his skin and keep his Presidential hopes alive by dragging Blatter into the scandal, the challenger issued a statement infering that Blatter knew about the accusations of bribery but did nothing – in order to cement his own position.
“The accusations .. contain statements according to which Mr. Blatter, the incumbent FIFA President, was informed of, but did not oppose, payments allegedly made to members of the Caribbean Football Union,” said a statement released by Bin Hammam’s office.
“As the recent accusations also mention incumbent FIFA President Joseph Blatter, Mohamed Bin Hammam has requested that the investigation be extended to include Mr Blatter.”
Bin Hammam suggested the crisis was a concerted plan to damage him and force him to withdraw from the election next Wednesday (June 1).
“It is no coincidence that these allegations have been made only a few days before the 61st FIFA Congress, at which the new FIFA president will be elected,” the statement said.
The counter claim provided another astonishing twist in the entire saga.
Bin Hammam’s attack on his one-time ally was issued just a few hours after the two men embraced at FIFA headquarters before a scheduled meeting of its Finance Committee.
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