We may have forked over our $10 million Diaspora Legacy Program payment (read bribe) but you can rest assured we weren’t the only guys given the chance to buy our World Cup hosting rights.
The latest accusations levelled against FIFA ex-president Jack Warner (and there are many) come from a former Egyptian minister and date back to 2004. The Times Of India reports:
Former minister of youth and sports, Aley Eddine Helal, told AFP that Warner, who is now at the heart of a 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.
It appears that Egypt weren’t ready to play ball and their bid to secure the 2010 tournament received a grand total of zero votes:
…someone “from Fifa” had approached Egypt in 2004, saying: “If you pay, we can help you”.
In the same interview, Helal alleged Warner met with the then Egyptian Football Association president Youssef el-Dahshori in the United Arab Emirates to ask for the cash.
“Our decision was not to indulge in this issue.”
I guess our rubber arms were a little easier to twist and I can’t imagine it was much of a hard sell for Warner and his cronies.
[source:toi]
