Sepp Blatter hit with new irregular payment claim as pressure mounts on FIFA chief

FIFA president Sepp Blatter, already under pressure to resign amid corruption allegations, has been forced to deny any knowledge of an irregular payment of €2million (£1.47m) allegedly sought on his behalf by a Japanese business executive.

Although there is no suggestion the money was paid to Blatter, the Mail on Sunday can reveal it was allegedly sought as a reward for Blatter allocating a lucrative ticket contract to a company being run by the executive in question.

In a further twist to the unfolding scandal around football’s world governing body, the MoS can also reveal that one of the men hoping to replace Blatter as FIFA president, FIFA vice-president Chung Moon-jong of South Korea, could be kicked out of the presidential race within days. Chung is believed to be close to suspension from all football activities for alleged misconduct in the bidding process for the 2022 World Cup.

Blatter is clinging on to power, just, in the wake of the Swiss authorities opening criminal proceedings against him for alleged criminal mismanagement of FIFA.

He is due to vacate his post by February next year at the latest, when the presidential election will conclude, although four of FIFA’s biggest sponsors - Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Visa and Budweiser - have called on him to quit immediately. Allegations of misconduct and malpractice in the wider football family continue to pile up at an alarming rate.

The new claim about the €2m sweetener has been made by businessman Benny Alon, whose accusations of ticket touting against FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke led to Valcke’s suspension last month.

In the run-up to the 2006 World Cup, Alon was instrumental in the establishment of a Swiss-based firm, International Sports and Entertainment (ISE), which was majority owned by a Japanese conglomerate, Dentsu. The most senior Dentsu executive involved with ISE was a long-time close friend of Blatter, Haruyuki Takahashi.

ISE were awarded the rights to sell all hospitality tickets to the 2006 World Cup, a lucrative contract that led to hundreds of millions of pounds of sales. Alon alleges that on multiple occasions Takahashi requested a €2m payment for Blatter.

Alon put this allegation in an affidavit in 2005 in preparation for a legal case against Dentsu that was eventually settled out of court. Alon wrote that Takahashi ‘asked me to put aside €2m that he needed to pay as a personal gratuity to Joseph Blatter, the head of FIFA, in return for FIFA accepting ISE as the successful [hospitality] bidder for the 2006WC.’

Alon says that he and his business partners told Takahashi at the time that a €2m payment would be illegal and so it was never paid.

Takahashi has told the Mail on Sunday he ‘never requested’ the money to pay to Blatter and that he never paid Blatter any money.

Sources say that Takahashi, Blatter and Alon were all present at a private dinner to celebrate ISE getting the contract, and that Blatter spoke about how pleased he was at that decision. Takahashi does not dispute those events. ‘I remember that dinner and I think that ISE won the contract because of the long-term relationship between us based on trust and performance,’ he says.

A FIFA spokesperson said: ‘The FIFA President never sought nor received any money pertaining to the awarding of the 2006 FIFA World Cup hospitality rights.’

Alon and Dentsu settled their dispute when Alon was given hundreds of premium tickets for the 2006 World Cup. Takahashi left Dentsu in 2011.

Dentsu say: ‘Since Mr. Takahashi is no longer a Dentsu employee, we have no way of verifying or disputing any of Mr. Alon’s statements and therefore cannot make any comment on the contents of the affidavit. With regard to the settlement, again there is no one here at Dentsu who is in a position to make any comment thereon.’

Takahashi is now on the executive board of the organising committee for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. A Tokyo 2020 spokesperson said: ‘The allegations on Mr. Takahashi are not related to his activities in Tokyo 2020.’

Though Blatter is certain to depart FIFA between now and February, in some manner or other, the candidate list to replace him is in a state of flux.
(copy:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews)