Did Fifa Bribe Money Land Here?

New Democrat (Monrovia)

4 June 2011

Liberia Football Association (LFA) officials have offered conflicting reasons for Liberia becoming the only African country to publically oppose the newly elected President of the Federation of International Football Association, Mr. Sepp Blatter, while endorsing his opponent, the Qatari Mohamed Bin Hammam, now placed under probe for bribery.

England’s lobby to have the election postponed failed, with Liberia as the only African country, backing the removal of Blatter.

“England’s representatives worked the lobbies of Zurich’s hotels on Tuesday, but, by late evening, the English intervention had just one cast-iron supporter, Scotland, and reportedly a second, Liberia,” The New York Times reported.

LFA President Musa Bility, in Zurich for the FIFA congress, was not available for comments, but his Deputy Secretary General for Administration, Mr. Lafayette Gould, denied money passed hands. He said Mr. Bility called an Emergency Committee Meeting to take the decision in backing the Qatari because, he added, FIFA leadership has been European dominated and it was time for change. He said the Qatari also had a good package for Liberia. Reminded that a European country–England–headed the anti-Blatter campaign, he said this was the only common ground.

Asked why they needed an Emergency Committee for such a monumental decision, Mr. Goud said logistics for having a congress were lacking, although the date for the FIFA elections, June 1, 2011, was no secret.

But the LFA Acting President, Mr. Musa Shannon, was tightlipped over reasons that led Liberia to be the only African country to openly oppose the triumphant newly elected President Sepp Blatter to head world football governing body, FIFA.

Mr. Shannon could not say whether the decision to oppose Sepp Blatter and publicly campaign for his opponent, the suspended Qatari Mohamed Bin Hammam, was unilateral. Asked if the LFA Executive Committee met to discuss and take a decision on the controversial FIFA elections, Mr. Shannon said the LFA has more pressing issues. But he hinted that the President of the LFA, in this case Mr. Musa Bility, handles such issues, implying the decision was unilateral.

Asked further if the decision to oppose Mr. Blatter was unilateral, he repeatedly remained non-committal. He said discussions within LFA are confidential and that he could not comment on them.

But Mr. Bility has been lobbying for Mohamed Bin Hammam, saying the Qatari has promised to pump US$3m into African football, even if Mr. Blatter is credited for dishing out millions of dollars for African football and enabling the continent to host the first World Cup.

Mr. Bility’s campaign against Mr. Blatter drew in the Nigeria Football Federation, who warned him to stop the deception that the NFF was against Mr. Blatter.

The NFF, in a statement, categorically denied that it had taken a decision to vote for Qatari aspirant Mohamed Bin Hammam during the June 1 FIFA Presidential Election in Zurich, Switzerland.

“We are constrained to make this clarification in view of a statement on a website by the President of Liberia Football Association, Mr. Musa Bility to the effect that Liberia, Nigeria, Ghana and others have already decided to support Mr. Hammam during the election.

“This is not correct. At no time did we have a meeting with Mr. Bility or anyone from Ghana or any other National Association for that matter to vote for a particular candidate, and our final decision to vote for either candidate (both of them eminently qualified) will not be taken in consultation with any other Federation, but ourselves alone, and in the interest of football development in our country and Africa at large,” said NFF’s acting General Secretary, Musa Amadu.

Only 17 votes were registered in support of England’s quest for postponement of the FIFA presidential election.

The LFA has immensely benefited in recent times from Mr. Blatter’s largesse, receiving US$400, 000 to renovate the Antoinette Tubman Stadium and US$300, 000 to refurbish LFA offices. Mr. Blatter also promised to build a new LFA headquarters.

With Sepp Blatter set to continue as president since he took the position in 1998, he has promised fundamental reforms, including giving more power to the 208 national federations at the expense of the 24-man executive committee by allowing them to pick the host of the World Cup from now on.

There remained little doubt that the Swiss executive would get a fourth four-year term, after the FIFA congress overwhelmingly rejected England’s call for a postponement of the election amid the swirl of ethics allegations.

“The FIFA ship is in troubled waters, but this ship must be brought back on the right track,” Blatter said in an opening address. “I am the captain of the ship.” “It is therefore my duty and responsibility to see to it that we get back on track.”

Blatter, who has been in office since 1998, was the only candidate on the ballot and his re-election by acclamation was expected later in the day.

His sole challenger, Qatari executive committee member Mohamed bin Hammam, withdrew from the race last weekend and was suspended on allegations of bribing Caribbean voters.

Blatter said the worst scandal in the body’s history could be solved within FIFA itself and with him in charge.

“Reforms will be made and not just touchups but radical decisions,” Blatter said in his speech to the 208 delegations attending the congress.

Blatter was heeding the advice of IOC President Jacques Rogge, who told him on the eve of the election that only drastic measures to improve democracy and transparency had saved the Olympic movement when it faced a similar corruption scandal in the run-up to the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games.

“We have made mistakes, but we will draw our conclusions,” Blatter said. Blatter said he would work to make sure the World Cup would in the future be picked in a vote by all federations instead of the two dozen executive committee members, several of whom have been involved in bribery scandals.

England’s FA chairman David Bernstein called for a postponement of the election for several months to allow for the corruption scandals to be cleared up, saying, “a coronation without an opponent provides a flawed mandate.” However, 172 of the 208 delegations rejected England’s call.

“We have been hit and I personally have been slapped,” Blatter said of the criticism and allegations facing FIFA and himself. “I don’t want that ever again.”

To reform, Blatter promised a more democratic outlook with more power flooding down the institutional pyramid to the national federations. The selection of the World Cup is a vital issue since it is by far FIFA’s most important source of income. He called for strengthening the institutions in an extraordinary congress.

“We must stop once and for all, all these ugly criticisms, allegations, insinuations of cheating left, right and center,” he said.

Bin Hammam and FIFA vice president Jack Warner were suspended pending the conclusion of a probe into allegations that Caribbean soccer leaders were paid $40,000 each to back Bin Hammam’s presidential bid.

Germany, a founding member of FIFA, called for a review of the December vote that gave Qatar the 2022 World Cup in order to scrutinize corruption allegations.

AP Sports Writers Rob Harris and Graham Dunbar in Zurich and Nesha Starcevic in Frankfurt contributed to this report.

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