Sepp Blatter sold World Cup TV rights at cut price

FIFA president Sepp Blatter sold off television rights for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups to disgraced former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner at a knockdown price, Swiss media have claimed.

Swiss television channel SRF alleged that Blatter signed off the screening rights for South Africa and Brazil to Warner for 529,000 euros ($600,000) - a mere 5% of their true market value. Warner was at the time of the deal (2005) flying high in world football as FIFA vice-president and boss of football's governing body in North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). Now, he is fighting extradition from his native Trinidad and Tobago to the United States after being named in the FIFA corruption probe rocking world football.

The SRF programme, aired on Friday, published a contract signed by Blatter selling tv rights for the 2010 World Cup for $250,000 and the 2014 edition for $350,000 to Warner. According to Australian Jaimie Fuller, a FIFA anti-corruption expert interviewed by the programme, those amounts "are around 5% of the market value". The SRF programme was noteworthy for being the first time to show Blatter's signature on a contract, Fuller claimed.

FIFA has been embroiled in a major corruption scandal since the arrest of seven of its officials on May 27 attending a FIFA congress in Zurich to elect a new president. Despite the arrests in May the election went ahead with Blatter winning a fifth mandate although he then announced he would be standing down with a new election scheduled for February. On Monday, the American and Swiss justice ministers are due to hold a joint press conference in Zurich to provide an update on the progress of their respective corruption investigations.

jh/rd (AFP)