FIFA says Valcke not involved in $10 million payment

Under pressure: FIFA has denied secretary general Jérôme Valcke or any of its senior management made a $10 million payment Keystone

FIFA has denied secretary general Jérôme Valcke or any of its senior management made a $10 million (CHF9.4 million) payment that is central to the bribery investigation of world football’s beleaguered governing body. 

“The payments totalling $10m were authorised by the then chairman of the Finance Committee [Julio Grondona, who died last July] and executed in accordance with the Organisation Regulations of FIFA,” Zurich-based FIFA said in the statement on Tuesday. 

“Neither the Secretary General Jérôme Valcke nor any other member of FIFA’s senior management were involved in the initiation, approval and implementation of the above project.” 

Valcke, a French citizen and FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s right-hand man, is described in an indictment filed in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York, as an unidentified “high-ranking FIFA official” who in 2008 transferred the sum to another FIFA official, Jack Warner. 

Valcke is not named as a defendant and has not been accused of any wrongdoing. He was not immediately available for comment. 

Valcke and Blatter are the top two officials within FIFA. His connection to the case was first reported by The New York TimesExternal link, which said Valcke had said in an email to the newspaper that he had not authorised the payment nor had the power to do so. 

No-show 

After news broke of his alleged connection to the case, FIFA announced that Valcke would not now attend the opening of the Women’s World Cup in Canada, due to begin on Saturday. 

“It is important that he attends to matters at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich,” FIFA said in a statement. 

Warner, a former FIFA vice president, is among 14 FIFA officials and corporate executives charged by the US Department of Justice last Wednesday with running a criminal enterprise that involved more than $150 million in bribes. 

The $10 million payment is featured in the indictment accusing Warner, who was among those charged, of taking a bribe in exchange for helping South Africa secure the right to host the 2010 World Cup.