Sunday 7 June 2015 14:23, UK
Former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner asked Egypt to pay a $7m bribe in exchange for seven votes to host the 2010 World Cup, a former Egyptian minister has alleged.
Aley Eddine Helal, a former minister of youth and sports in Egypt, told AFP that Warner, who is now at the heart of the corruption scandal engulfing football's world governing body, asked for the money in 2004.
"Warner was the one who approached us from FIFA. He said he could guarantee us seven votes... He asked for one million dollars for each vote," Helal claimed.
Egypt was a candidate to host the 2010 World Cup, but it received no votes in the 2004 FIFA ballot as South Africa was chosen to host the tournament.
Youssef el-Dahshori, who was Egyptian Football Association president at the time, said Warner introduced himself in 2003 during a FIFA congress held in Qatar and proposed a meeting, but he refused Warner's offer.
"We didn't pay any bribes. That was one of the reasons why we didn't get any votes," Dahshori told AFP.
"I met Warner in the UAE. He proposed to be Egypt's consultant in Latin America and Europe, since he has good connections there.
"He wanted to take seven million dollars for seven votes, and said he wouldn't take the money for himself but for developing the sport in Latin America."
Meanwhile, the South African Football Association (SAFA) has denied claims from FIFA executive committee member Chuck Blazer that it issued bribes to win the vote to host the 2010 World Cup.
Blazer has said he and others took bribes totalling $10m for South Africa to host the tournament and an undisclosed sum for Morocco's unsuccessful bid to host the 1998 tournament.
"We categorically deny that this was a bribe in return for a vote," the SAFA statement read. "It belittles the hard work done by Madiba (Nelson Mandela), Archbishop Tutu, the South African Government and numerous others who sacrificed their time and money and family lives to make our country proud! It tarnishes their images in the most unscrupulous manner."
The SAFA sent a letter to FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke in 2008 saying that $10m should be administered directly by Warner, who is currently on bail in Trinidad pending extradition to the United States.
The money was intended to support football in the Caribbean, the SAFA said.
Warner, who denies any wrongdoing, is among more than a dozen officials charged by the US Department of Justice in the $150m corruption and bribery investigation.
