FIFA: 4 officials cleared of English allegations

Published May. 29, 2011 10:16 p.m. ET

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Four FIFA executive committee members accused of World Cup bidding corruption during a British Parliamentary hearing have been cleared of wrongdoing by the English Football Association.

David Triesman, the head of England's 2018 bid until last May, told British lawmakers this month that Jack Warner, Nicolas Leoz, Ricardo Teixeira and Worawi Makudi engaged in ''improper and unethical'' conduct. All four denied the allegations.

The FA investigated and its findings were submitted to FIFA during the week.

''I hope FIFA will agree to make it public because all the people here, especially Mr. Teixeira and Mr. Makudi, are completely clean of all the allegations made by Lord Triesman, a few weeks ago,'' FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke said at a news conference.

Russia won the 2018 bidding contest in December. England received only two votes - fewer than the joint bids from Netherlands-Belgium and Spain-Portugal.

In a separate case, Warner was suspended by FIFA on Sunday in connection with allegations of bribery in Mohamed bin Hammam's bid to unseat Sepp Blatter in the presidential elections on Wednesday. Bin Hammam also was suspended and pulled out of the race.

Triesman, a member of the House of Lords, contended that Warner, a FIFA vice president and CONCACAF president from Trinidad and Tobago, asked for money - suggested to be about $4.1 million. The funds were to build an education center in Trinidad and to buy Haiti's World Cup TV rights for about $820,000.

Valcke said Triesman's account was disputed by former England bid executive Dave Richards, the chairman of the Premier League.

''Dave Richards has not said he heard Jack Warner ask for money in his presence, or ask for funds to be channeled through him,'' Valcke said.

Triesman also said Leoz, of Paraguay, asked for an honorary knighthood. But Valcke said the FA report shows the request was made only by people in Leoz's entourage to people working for Triesman.

Valcke said there also was no evidence to support Makudi of Thailand allegedly wanting to receive money from English TV to broadcast a planned exhibition game against the country.

Triesman had also said that Teixeira, a Brazilian, asked him to ''come and tell me what you have got for me.''