JEDDAH, 5 April — The vice president of the African Football Confederation (CAF) Farah Wehliye Addow said the 1998 presidential elections was based on venality. Sepp Blatter was elected at the time as the leader of world soccer body. His four-year term of the office is due to end in May.
"Some African delegates including my own Somali Football Federation (SFF), was offered bribes to vote for Blatter. I was offered $100,000 for the vote. But I refused to take that money," Addow, also the president of SFF, was here to perform Haj, told Arab News.
He said that he voted for Lennart Johansson, a rival of Blatter in the election. In 1998 CAF’s assembly agreed that African delegates would vote for Johansson.
Asked whether he has an evidence about the scandal, he said: "There were certain campaigners for Blatter. Those campaigners had used to offer bribes for the voters. I do not want to mention their names and countries. But he (Blatter) was behind that ballot scandal. During last FIFA presidential election, a former Somali colleague at SFF suggested me to take money in order to give Somalia’s vote in favor of Blatter. This is a part of wider proof that I have so far."
At present, Blatter is an aspirant of the FIFA presidential post at the coming election in May. Addow declared that CAF’s decision remains as it was four years ago.
"We will vote for anyone, who will express his ambition to be FIFA’s presidential candidate in the coming four years. On the other hand, majority of personalities from different football associations, who lobbied for Blatter, have been sucked and will not represent their respective federations," he concluded.
