At the heart of the FIFA corruption allegations is a $10 million payment to Jack Warner that was supposedly used as a bribe for the 2010 World Cup. The New York Times alleged that FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke was responsible for the payment. FIFA, on the other hand, claimed that the man responsible was Julio Grondona, the former head of the FIFA finance committee, who died last year.
Almost immediately after FIFA blamed the payment on Grondona, though, this letter to Valcke was unearthed, and FIFA looked quite foolish.
BOMBSHELL: Letter from South Africa FA to FIFA instructing $10m payment to Warner WAS addressed to Jerome Valcke pic.twitter.com/b0yKBPRAcA
— Martyn Ziegler (@martynziegler) June 2, 2015In fairness to FIFA, and I can't believe I just typed that, Grondona wasn't exactly an anti-corruption crusader himself, but it seems like FIFA were trying to pin the whole thing on a guy who can't defend himself and then they got caught with their pants down.
The letter doesn't specifically state that the money will be used as a bribe, but come on. This is FIFA.
(H/T SB Nation)
Contact The18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus@The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus
