Triesman accuses FIFA members of seeking bribes for votes

10:47, 11 May 2011

NEW YORK. May 11. KAZINFORM Lord Triesman, the former chairman of England's failed 2018 World Cup bid, has told a British parliamentary committee that four members of FIFA's executive committee demanded cash and honors in return for their votes to decide the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts; Kazinform refers to CNN.

Triesman told the committee that Jack Warner, Nicolas Leoz, Ricardo Teixeira and Worawi Makudi had all sought certain favors in order to secure England's vote for the 2018 competition.

"Things were put to me personally, sometimes in the presence of others, which in my view did not represent proper and ethical behavior on the part of members of the executive committee," Triesman told the committee.

The highest-profile executive member implicated is Jack Warner, the influential head of the North and Central American federation CONCACAF, who Triesman claims demanded to be paid $4 million for construction of schools in Trinidad.

Triesman said of Warner's suggestion: "I said immediately the proposition was out of the question -- you're probably talking about $4 million. Jack nodded at that. He said that the money could be channelled through him and he would guarantee the funds would be appropriately spent."

Triesman also revealed that Paraguayan Leoz, the head of the South American federation CONMEMBOL, had requested a knighthood during a meeting in November 2009.

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