Former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner says he received World Cup television rights for one dollar in return for voting in favour of Joseph Blatter in presidential elections at the world governing football body.
Warner said in a statement issued on Thursday he was sold rights for the 1998, 2002 and 2006 World Cups after supporting Blatter in the presidential elections in those years.
He also said that he got the rights for the 2010 and 2014, through the Caribbean football body, for a nominal fee.
Warner said that the money generated from selling on the right was used for the development of football in his home country of Trinidad and Tobago, and the Caribbean.
FIFA said it was looking into Warner’s statement.
Warner was suspended by FIFA in connection with corruption allegations around the 2011 presidential campaign. He resigned from all football functions before a final FIFA ruling.
Warner was accused of having organized a meeting in which Blatter’s opponent for the presidency, Mohammed bin Hammam of Qatar, allegedly gave Caribbean football officials cash to vote him his favour.
Bin Hammam was banned for life from football by FIFA. He and Warner have protested their innocence.
Warner said that he and Bin Hammam in the past played critical roles in Blatter being elected FIFA boss in a bitter 1998 campaign against Sweden’s Lennart Johansson and then being re-elected later.
Blatter has pledged a reform of FIFA and more transparency since being re-elected in June.
