Fifa acknowledges US$10 million transfer

[ZURICH] Fifa on Tuesday admitted that it had processed a US$10 million payment from South Africa to football official Jack Warner but denied that the world body's secretary general Jerome Valcke was involved.

A Fifa statement said that neither Mr Valcke "nor any other member of FIFA's senior management were involved in the initiation, approval and implementation" of the 2007 transfer from South Africa to Mr Warner, then president of the North, Central America and Caribbean football confederation.

Fifa said it had acted as an intermediary between South Africa, which was preparing to host the 2010 World Cup, and a project to "support the African diaspora in Caribbean countries".

Mr Warner is one of 14 people facing charges of involvement in more than US$150 million of bribes to soccer officials.

AFP