South Africa Denies Bribing FIFA Officials to Win 2010 World Cup Bid

South Africa's sports minister Fikile Mbalula reiterated on Wednesday that the country had not paid a $10-million bribe to FIFA officials to win its 2010 World Cup bid.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On May 27, Switzerland launched an investigation into the selection process for World Cup host countries, following the arrest of seven high-ranking FIFA officials in Zurich on a US warrant of federal corruption charges.

Investigators alleged that former CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) president Jack Warner received in 2008 a $10 million bribe from South Africa in order to help it win the World Cup bid in 2010, a claim which South Africa denied the following day.

"We stand by our initial statement that the government of the Republic of South Africa has not bribed anyone to secure the rights of 2010 World Cup," Mbalula said at a press conference in Johannesburg.

Mbalula's statement echoes the remarks made by the president of the South African Football Association, Danny Jordaan, who has strongly denied that his country won the bid by making a payment worth $10 million.

On May 31, Jordaan told local media that a $10 million payment was made to CONCACAF in 2008 as the country's contribution to their football development fund, clarifying that it was not a bribe. He added that the country was chosen to host the 2010 Cup in 2004, and suggested that it makes no sense to bribe for votes four years after the fact.

Last week, the US Justice Department charged 14 world soccer figures, including nine high-ranking FIFA officials, with receiving bribes totaling $150 million, in a corruption scheme that ran for some 24 years.