DA lays 2010 World Cup criminal charges against Jordaan and Oliphant

21 September 2015 - 14:16 By RDM News Wire

The Democratic Alliance on Monday laid fraud and corruption charges against Danny Jordaan and Molefi Oliphant in relation to an alleged $10-million bribe to secure votes to win the right to host the 2010 World Cup. Speaking outside the Cape Town Police Station‚ the party’s sports spokesperson‚ Solly Malatsi‚ said the cases were opened to “initiate a criminal investigation into the allegation”.“The charges laid against Jordaan and Oliphant include fraud as well as corruption under Section 3 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act‚ 2004‚” Malatsi said.Jordaan‚ now mayor of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro and current president of the South African Football Association (Safa)‚ was CEO of the Bid Committee when the alleged bribe was arranged in 2007. Oliphant was Safa president at the time.“We know that both Jordaan and Oliphant are implicated in the decision to transfer the money for Concacaf’s [North‚ Central American and Caribbean Association Football] Diaspora Legacy Programme in two letters‚” Malatsi said.“A letter‚ written and signed by Jordaan in his capacity the CEO of the Bid Committee in December 2007‚ shows that he instructed Fifa to authorise the $10-million payment to Concacaf. A second letter from Oliphant to Fifa in March 2008 shows the he too instructed the payment of the $10-million.”Malatsi said that Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula’s admission in Parliament “that there has been no request thus far for a criminal investigation – despite the growing body of evidence” helped prompt the laying of charges.He also claimed that efforts to “to use parliamentary processes to summon Mbalula‚ “Oliphant and others implicated yet have been blocked at every turn by the African National Congress”.“We have now had to resort to the next logical step‚” Malatsi said.“Given the evidence we have decided to lay criminal charges so we can get to the bottom of these allegations tarnishing the 2010 world Cup and because there seems to be no will by our government to deal decisively with these allegations.”..

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