UEFA chief Lennart Johansson has insisted FIFA President Sepp Blatter should be questioned in relation to allegations that bribes helped him win the FIFA presidency in 1998. Johansson believes Blatter should also face questions over financial problems at FIFA when its executive committee meets in Zurich on Wednesday.
“I hope and I trust that the existing group of the executive committee will review FIFA’s finances together with the external experts. Then we should finally know where we stand and why we are spending money now that really is meant for the 2006 World Cup,” Johansson told Switzerland’s SonntagsZeitung newspaper.
Johansson also denied suggestions that he had given rise to the bribery allegations against Blatter, who beat Johansson in the race for the top job at FIFA. “As far as the bribery allegations presented last week, I personally have never accused Blatter of being guilty and having paid the money in question. This is a matter that others will have to deal with,” he added.
Yesterday Blatter described the allegations as an attempt to unsettle the office of FIFA president: “We are in an election year and there are, let’s say, people who like to stabilise the actual president by defamation.”
Filed by Tom Grealis
