FIFA General Secretary, Jérôme Valcke has ardently declared that the USD 10 Million payment made by South Africa's Local Organising Committee, which was approved by the South African Football Association towards the Diaspora Legacy Fund, was not a bribe.
Mbalula reacts to Jordaan/ Valcke letter
Valcke, who initially distanced himself when the allegations first came to light last month, stated that the money was to be sent based on the letter sent by FIFA, and that he never denied knowing about the case, this according to an article in ENews Africa.
"There is an official request from South Africa to pay, there is an official letter from the secretary general of FIFA. In this letter there are two points, the first one is to say the SA government has asked the local organising committee and Safa to confirm that $10 million should be deducted from the World Cup project and we have decided to appoint Jack Warner as the fiduciary of this $10million. We did that," stated Valcke, in the article.
"We made sure all the paperwork was signed. In the accounts of the World Cup 2010 it's clearly defined."
"I'm amazed that people are jumping on this today when it was so public from the minute (former president Thabo) Mbeki spoke about this $10 million which is in the public accounts of the World Cup. All of this is in the documents."
"Valcke said the money was never transferred to former FIFA vice president Jack Warner's personal account," he concluded as per the article.
Sports and Recreation Minister, Fikile Mbalula has emphatically come out in recent weeks to declare that the payment of the funds in questions were towards a programmes which was deemed 'above board' and that no one should be accountable for the actions of an individual.
