FIFA email connects Sepp Blatter to USD 10M, newspaper claims

A 2007 email shows FIFA President Sepp Blatter and then-South African President Thabo Mbeki held "discussions" over USD 10 million that ultimately went to allegedly corrupt soccer executives as payback for supporting the country's World Cup bid, a newspaper claimed today.
South Africa's Sunday Times reported that the email from FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke to the South African government asks when the USD 10 million will be transferred. The newspaper said that in the email, which was not published, Valcke wrote that the USD 10 million was "based on discussions between FIFA and the South African government, and also between our President (Blatter) and President Thabo Mbeki."

American investigators alleged in their indictment into corruption in world soccer that the USD 10 million went to Jack Warner, who is currently under arrest, as payback for him and two other senior FIFA executives voting for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup.
It was wired from FIFA to accounts controlled by Warner in three payments in early 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
FIFA and the South African government have said it was money given legitimately by South Africa through FIFA to help soccer development in Warner's Caribbean region. Mbeki's office denied any involvement in bribes in a statement when the FIFA corruption scandal broke.

FIFA didn't immediately respond to a written request from The Associated Press for comment on the purported 2007 email from Valcke. Mbeki's spokesman, Mukoni Ratshitanga, referred the AP to the earlier statement denying the South African government's involvement in any bribes when Mbeki was president.
Described as money for soccer development, the South African cash ended up going directly to former FIFA vice president Warner of Trinidad and American Chuck Blazer, both then members of FIFA's executive committee, according to the DOJ. Blazer has admitted to receiving bribes in connection with the 2004 vote that resulted in South Africa becoming the first African nation to host the World Cup.