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Letter proves South Africa did pay $10 million to Fifa for World Cup
A March 2008 letter signed by then Safa president Molefi Oliphant could be the smoking gun in the alleged bribery of Fifa.
The letter was sent from the South African Football Association (Safa) to Fifa, giving them instruction to make a payment of $10-million to a Caribbean football union.
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The letter, as reported by the Sunday Times, is said to have been signed by Oliphant, and that Safa believed it was meant for a development fund for the Caribbean, since they are part of the African diaspora.
Jack Warner, the then Concacaf president, was charged in Trinidad and Tobago this past week, after the US attorney general had included in the indictment that Warner had allegedly redirected large portions of the payment made by South Africa (via Fifa) to his personal account
Former South Africa Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile, who was involved with the organising of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, told the Sunday Times that he was in the dark about the bidding process.
"This thing of these scandals is nothing new. Maybe there was an issue of bribes, but that wouldn't be anything new because Fifa is an organisation filled with corruption and bribes. But we must not forget that it was important for South Africa to host that tournament and important for the continent as a whole," he said.
"Anyway, the only people who have full knowledge about the whole thing [the World Cup bid] was Danny Jordaan, Irvin Khoza and Molefi Oliphant," he concluded.
After a few days of avoiding comment, Safa president Dr Jordaan stated the following to Independent Newspapers.
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“They can ask all the executives of Fifa that I have engaged with. During my tenure as CEO at the 2010 World Cup Organising Committee, I was bound by regulations set out in the Schedule of Delegated Authority (Soda). Under that authority, I could authorise payments of a maximum of R1 million.
“How could we have paid a bribe for votes four years after we had won the bid?” Jordaan asked.
Source: Goal