FIFA: Blazer details bribe taking; Warner says he “fears for his life”

June 4th, 2015 (VOA) U.S. court records unsealed Wednesday revealed that Charles Blazer,  a former FIFA executive committee member admitted to accepting bribes in connection with the 1998 and 2010 World Cups in November 2013.

Blazer, a U.S. citizen who spent two decades as one of the world’s most powerful sports officials, secretly pleaded guilty to 10 criminal counts in New York as part of an agreement with U.S. prosecutors, according to the partially redacted transcript of the hearing.

Blazer told a U.S. judge that he and other members of the global football governing body’s executive committee accepted bribes in conjunction with the choice of France as the host of the 1998 World Cup host.

The American said he also accepted bribes over the 2010 event awarded to South Africa.

Warner makes explosive allegations

Meanwhile, Ex-FIFA official Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago claims he has proof of financial dealings involving FIFA’s governing body and the Caribbean island’s general elections in 2010 and has vowed to tell investigators all he knows about corruption within the organization.

“I will no longer keep secrets for them,” he said in a paid political broadcast titled The Gloves Are Off, which was shown Wednesday in Trinidad and Tobago. “I reasonably and surely fear for my life,” he declared and added “not even death will stop the avalanche that is coming.”

Warner said he has compiled a file of documents that shows “a link between FIFA, its funding and me, the link between FIFA its funding and the United National Congress (UNC) and the People’s Partnership government in (Trinidad and Tobago’s) general election 2010.”

The former FIFA vice president is one of six people, including a second FIFA official and four executives, who have been placed under a “red notice” by the international law enforcement agency, Interpol, on charges including corruption and racketeering, meaning they risk arrest anywhere in the world if they travel.

The group are among 14 people who were indicted by the U.S. Justice Department last week on charges of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering in a scheme that prosecutors say involved sports media executives paying or agreeing to pay more than $150 million in exchange for marketing rights to tournaments.

US probe targets Blatter 

Federation president Sepp Blatter is reportedly the target of probes by federal prosecutors and the FBI. He abruptly resigned his post during a news conference in Zurich Tuesday.

Blatter, 79, who was just re-elected to a fifth term as FIFA president last Friday, acknowledged that he did not “have a mandate from the entire world of football – the fans, the players, the clubs, the people who live, breathe and love football as much as we all do at FIFA.”

He admitted that “FIFA needs a profound restructuring,” and pledged his commitment to that goal.

Many of FIFA’s multimillion-dollar sponsors praised Blatter’s decision to step down. U.S. soft-drink maker Coca-Cola said it was “a positive step for the good of sport, football and its fans.”

This story is part of a series covering the FIFA corruption scandal.  Click here for more.