Graft charges against Jordaan and Oliphant

THE police were expected to launch criminal investigations into two senior football officials in connection with the 2010 World Cup, following a request from the Democratic Alliance (DA), a party official said.

The probe is linked to an alleged bribe paid to secure the rights to host the World Cup.

The DA on Monday laid corruption charges against South African Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan and his predecessor, Molefi Oliphant.

The charges arise from two letters, one written by Jordaan, who was in charge of the country’s World Cup bid, to Fifa about SA’s plan to donate funds to a Caribbean football development programme, and another by Molefi, who was Safa chief at the time.

SA then paid $10m through Fifa into an account controlled by Jack Warner, a disgraced former Fifa vice-president accused by US authorities of accepting bribes. US investigators believe the money was a bribe to secure SA’s selection as host of the 2010 competition.

“We laid charges of corruption and fraud against the two individuals relating to their complicity in the $10m that was actually redirected to Concacaf,” DA member of Parliament Solomon Malatsi said, referring to football’s governing body in North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

At the time, Warner was Concacaf president.

In the affidavit filed with the police in Cape Town, Malatsi said it “appears that Jordaan and Oliphant were complicit with, and indeed seemingly central to the bribery scheme”.