By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
May 30 – FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke insisted today that he had never accused Asian football chief Mohamed Bin Hammam of buying the 2022 World Cup and categorically stood his ground after becoming embroiled in the ongoing bribery scandal.
He also rejected claims that he was complicit in the suspension of Bin Hammam by FIFA’s Ethics Committee over inducements made to Caribbean FIFA members.
Valcke’s position had come under intense scrutiny earlier in the day when he admitted that an email he had sent to·FIFA vice-president Jack Warner – suspended along with Bin Hammam – was valid.
In the email, made public by Warner, Valcke was quoted as saying that he not only favoured Bin Hammam pulling out of the election race versus Blatter but also that the Qatari may have bought the 2022 vote.
According to Warner, Valcke wrote: “For MBH, I never understood why he was running.
“If really he thought he had a chance or just being an extreme way to express how much he does not like anymore JSB. Or he thought you can buy FIFA as they bought the WC”
As he arrived for a morning meeting of CONCACAF, Valcke seemed rattled but later issued a statement in which, far from resigning from FIFA, he dug in his heels.
Responding to Warner’s accusations, Valcke said they were totally misleading and he was simply referring to Qatar’s financial might.·”I’d like to clarify that I may use in an email – a ‘lighter’ way of expression by nature – a much less formal tone than in any form of correspondence,” he said.
“Having said that, when I refer to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in that email, what I wanted to say is that the winning bid used their financial strength to lobby for support.
“They were a candidate with a very important budget and have used it to heavily promote their bid all around the world in a very efficient manner.
“I have at no time made, or was intending to make, any reference to any purchase of votes or similar unethical behaviour.
“I would also like to clarify that there is, as I said yesterday, no investigation open at FIFA regarding the 2022 FIFA World Cup host election.”
Turning to Bin Hammam’s· suggestion that Valcke influenced the Ethics Committee;s decision,·Valcke was even more unequivocal in terms of being on safe ground.
“It is fully incorrect – and quite disappointing – to say that I have an influence on the FIFA Ethics Committee and its proceedings,” he said.
“I have never attended any of the meetings of this committee, and the first time I have met deputy chairman Petrus Damaseb was shortly before the press conference yesterday evening at the Home of FIFA.
“I fully respect and highly appreciate the independence of this committee and have no intention whatsoever of influencing their work.
“As is clearly written in the FIFA Code of Ethics, I have the duty to report to the FIFA Ethics Committee any evidence of violations of conduct reported to me by officials.”
Meanwhile, Qatar 2022 again denied that they had done anything wrong during the bidding campaign.
“Qatar 2022 categorically deny any wrongdoing in connection with their winning bid,” they said in a statement.
“We are urgently seeking clarification from FIFA about the statement from their general secretary.
“In the meantime we are taking legal advice to consider our options.”
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