AFP/Zurich

FIFA president Sepp Blatter could be quizzed by Swiss authorities as the corruption scandal engulfing world football’s governing body took a fresh twist yesterday with South Africa’s football chief admitting his country paid $10 million but denying that it was to buy votes to host the 2010 World Cup.
Two separate investigations are being carried out by American and Swiss authorities for alleged widespread corruption within FIFA, with several top officials arrested, accused by US authorities of taking tens of millions of dollars in bribes.
A spokesman for the Swiss public prosecutor told AFP yesterday that several members of FIFA’s executive committee had already been questioned, and that Blatter could also be quizzed “in the future if needed”.  
“The OAG (Office of the Attorney General) is questioning those FIFA Executive Committee members who are not Swiss residents who voted back in 2010 (when the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were awarded to Russia and Qatar) and are still in office,” spokesman Andre Marty said.
“The president of FIFA will not be questioned at this point of time. If need be he will be questioned in the future,” Marty added.
Blatter, who was re-elected to a fifth term as FIFA president on Friday despite the worst scandal to hit the organisation, has accused US investigators of using the arrests as an attempt “interfere with the congress” that returned him to power.
Seven FIFA officials were arrested on Wednesday in their Zurich hotel as part of the US investigation that indicted 14 officials and marketing executives for racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies that ran from 1991 to present day.
US papers also allege that South African officials paid more than $10 million in bribes to host the 2010 World Cup to former FIFA vice president Jack Warner.  
South African Football Association president Danny Jordaan confirmed yesterday that the organising committee paid $10 million in 2008, after South Africa won the bid in May 2004 but insisted this was not a bribe.
“I haven’t paid a bribe or taken a bribe from anybody in my life. We don’t know who is mentioned there (in the indictment),” Jordaan told the Sunday Independent.
“How could we have paid a bribe for votes four years after we had won the bid?” Jordaan said, adding that the payment was South Africa’s contribution towards Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football’s (CONCACAF) football development fund.
Warner, who was among the 14 indicted by US justice, was then also president of CONCACAF.

Several senior FIFA officials questioned
Meanwhile, Swiss authorities were running a parallel probe into allegations of bribery in the process over the controversial awarding of the World Cups.
The Swiss justice spokesman said the top football officials were interviewed as “people who could provide information”, without giving further details.
He added that Blatter “will not be questioned at this stage. If necessary, he will be in the future”.
Seven senior FIFA officials are believed to be among those heard by investigators—Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Issa Hayatou (Cameroon), Angel Miguel Villar Llona (Spain), Michel D’Hooge (Belgium), Senes Erzik (Turkey), Marios Lefkaritis (Cyprus), Hany Abo Rida (Egypt) and Vitaly Mutko (Russia).
Two other current members of the Executive Committee who voted live in Switzerland—Blatter and UEFA president Michel Platini.
Swiss authorities appear to be prioritising the questioning of those living outside Switzerland for practical reasons as they were attending FIFA’s Executive Committee meeting in Zurich on Saturday.
Meanwhile British bank Barclays announced it had launched an internal review into whether its accounts were used for corrupt payments by FIFA officials, a banking source told AFP.
It comes after the British bank was named in a US investigation into corruption at FIFA.
Barclays was among three banks with British headquarters named in the US indictment, which outlined how tens of millions of dollars were hidden in offshore accounts.
Another, Standard Chartered, said Friday that it was looking into two payments cleared by the bank that were mentioned in the indictment.
The third named bank, HSBC, has so far declined to comment.
Britain’s Serious Fraud Office said Friday that it “continues actively to assess material in its possession and has made plain that it stands ready to assist ongoing international criminal investigations”.