Former Fifa official caught on camera in World Cup votes bribe scandal

Posted Sunday, October 24, 2010 by theguardian.com

Former Fifa official caught on camera in World Cup votes bribe scandal
FIFA president Sepp Blatter fell out with Zen-Ruffinen after the latter, then secretary general, had accused the organisation of financial mismanagement.

Michel Zen-Ruffinen, a former secretary general of Fifa, has said he can identify Fifa executive members who are willing to be bribed to buy their votes for the World Cups in 2018 (for which England is bidding) and 2022.

The latest allegations in the cash for votes scandal come from a Sunday Times report which says Zen-Ruffinen was caught on camera going through a list of Fifa executive members, saying how much their votes would cost, and describing one of them "as the biggest gangster on earth".

Zen-Ruffinen added that the Spain/Portugal bid to host the World Cup has struck a deal with Qatar to exchange votes, which will have implications for England's 2018 bid, although Qatar have angrily denied the allegations.

"People expect a battle between Russia and England but they are very much disturbed by the alliance with Qatar, because if Spain start with seven, which nobody was expecting ... that's a real alliance. It's bound, tacked with a nice ribbon and that's really problematic. This is the most problematic thing. And I was informed about it last week. And this is not just a rumour. That's a fact."

Zen-Ruffinen, a 51-year-old lawyer who worked for 16 years at football's world governing body and was regarded as the Fifa president Sepp Blatter's protégé before falling out with him, named two Fifa members whom he maintained would be susceptible to financial inducements, and a third whom he described as "the guy you can have with ladies and not money ..."

He described a fourth member as "the biggest gangster you will find on earth", whose vote would cost "a minimum of half a million (dollars)."

Zen-Ruffinen said later that he had only been recounting "well-known rumours."

It also emerged that Spain may have secured another vote through Reynald Temarii, the Fifa executive committee member for Oceania, according to a statement by Ahongalu Fusimalohi, another member of the Oceania executive committee. "Oceania have indirectly said they will support England," Fusimalhi said. "But they are not."

Asked who they were supporting, he replied: "Spain."