FIFA suspends vote-selling duo
FIFA executive committee members, Amos Adamu and Reynald Temarii, have been provisionally suspended for offering to sell their votes to countries still in the hunt for the bid to host the 2018 World Cup. The allegations come ahead of the December 2 meeting
in Zurich to determine which bid will earn the right to host the contest in 2018.
FIFA ethics committee chairman Claudio Sulser was quoted as saying, "The decision to provisionally suspend these officials is fully justified and should not be put in question. The evidence that has been presented to us today has led us to take this provisional
measure, as we considered that the conditions were definitely met to take this decision and we deem that it is crucial to protect the integrity of the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bidding process. We are determined to have zero tolerance for any breach of
the Code of Ethics."
The suspensions come in the wake of an English newspaper's accusation of Adamu's and Temarii's alleged vote selling. Reporters for the
Sunday Times, posing as lobbyists for a US bid, secretly filmed Temarii allegedly asking for money, to be paid directly, in order for him to endorse a US bid.
Temarii claims that his comments on the video released by the Sunday Times have been taken out of context, adding in a statement made to
Inside World Football, "I am 100 percent convinced of my integrity. That's why I have stayed on."
Fifa has also offically provisionally suspended four other officials, including Slim Aloulou, Amadou Diakite, Ahongalu Fusimalohi and Ismail Bhamjee, as it continues to investigate several rumours of collusion and mutual voting deals between countries.
Fifa will meet again in mid-November to determine the ultimate fates of those involved. Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke said, "There is no discussion about the postponement of the decision on 2 December for the time being."