Triesman was giving evidence on Tuesday to a British
parliamentary inquiry into the reasons why England failed in its bid to secure
the finals which were awarded to Russia last December.
British Members of Parliament involved in the inquiry also
revealed the names of two other FIFA Executive Committee members who, it is
alleged, were paid $1.5 million to vote for Qatar's successful 2022 World Cup
bid.
Conservative MP Damian Collins said the committee had
evidence from the Sunday Times newspaper which it would publish that FIFA Vice-President
Issa Hayatou of Cameroon and Jacques Anouma of the Ivory Coast were paid by
Qatar.
Two other executive committee members were banned by FIFA's
Ethics Committee last year after a previous Sunday Times investigation into the
World Cup bidding process.
The claims are an embarrassment for the game's governing
body with a total eight of its 24-strong key decision-making executive
committee having now been accused by the British media or its parliamentary
representatives of corruption.
Its 75-year-old president Sepp Blatter will stand for a
further four-year term at its helm on June 1 in Zurich. He was first elected in
1998. Asian Football Confederation chief Mohamed Bin Hammam is opposing him.
Triesman spoke at the parliamentary inquiry of the "improper
and unethical behavior" by the four men he named.
Giving exact details about the conversations, he said Warner
asked for 2.5 million pounds ($4.09 million) to be "channelled through
me" for an education centre in his home country Trinidad and Trinidad.
After the Haiti earthquake struck leaving that country
devastated, Warner then asked Triesman for 500,000 pounds to buy Haiti World
Cup TV rights.
Triesman said Paraguayan Leoz had requested a knighthood in
return for his vote while Teixeira told him "Come and tell me what you
have for me".
Thai Makudi wanted control of the television rights for a
proposed Thailand vs. England friendly.
"We had a number of conversations with Makudi,
telephone conversations," Triesman said.
"These were some of the things that were put to me
personally, sometimes in the presence of others, which in my view did not
represent proper and ethical behavior on the part of members of the executive
committee," he added.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter responded to Triesman's comment
at a news conference in Zurich.
"I was shocked ... but one has to see the
evidence," Blatter said.
"There is a new round of information, give us time to
digest that and start the investigation by asking for evidence on what has been
said.
"I repeat, we must have the evidence and we will react
immediately against all those in breach of the ethics code rules."
Collins clarified the allegations against Hayatou and
Anouma.
"The Sunday Times submission, and this is to be
published by us later, claims that $1.5 million was paid to FIFA executive
committee members Issa Hayatou and Jacques Anouma who went on to vote for Qatar
2022," he said, adding that the submission also said that Qatar employed a
fixer to arrange deals with African members for their votes.
Mike Lee, who worked as a consultant on Qatar's bid, gave
evidence.
"I personally have never witnessed any improper behavior
and have no evidence that the allegations are correct," he said.
The vote to stage the 2018 and 2022 World Cups was mired in
controversy, with England at the heart of it.
Triesman was forced to resign from the FA last year after a
newspaper sting in which he was taped during a private conversation claiming
2018 rivals Spain and Russia were conspiring to bribe referees at last year's
World Cup in South Africa.
A FIFA investigation found no substance to those allegations
by Triesman.
FIFA banned Nigerian Amos Adamu and Reynauld Temarii of
Tahiti, president of the Oceania Football Confederation, from its executive
committee in November over a report in the Sunday Times that they had offered
to sell their votes.
When England's bid failed last December, receiving just two
out of 22 votes, it sparked bitter recriminations and Roger Burden, the acting
FA chairman, stated that he could no longer trust FIFA members and withdrew his
candidacy for the job.
