Johansson: Blatter ‘knew about South Africa payment’

Sepp Blatter must have known about the $10 million payment sent from a FIFA account to the disgraced former vice-president Jack Warner, the former UEFA president, Lennart Johansson has claimed.
The money was sent in 2008 from FIFA to an account controlled by Warner, following a request to FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke from the South African Football Association (SAFA). Warner’s former deputy Chuck Blazer has testified in court that the cash was a bribe for their votes for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup.
Blatter announced on Tuesday he will step down as president next year after a letter from SAFA to Valcke was made public. The FBI is reported to be investigating both him and Valcke as part of its probe into corruption involving FIFA officials which has seen 18 people already indicted.
Johansson, the 85-year-old who was beaten by Blatter in the 1998 presidential election, said his old adversary should leave FIFA now.
Speaking in Berlin, Johansson said: “I think that he must go immediately. I think the investigation has told him they will find out exactly what was done and by whom. The General Secretary (Valcke) was sending away millions of dollars to America and then Blatter claims that he didn’t know. He knows everything that’s going on so don’t believe that.
“The cash out (was) so much money and he who keeps everything under such tight control should know about it, this is nonsense.
“I fought him for 20 years and then he bluffed me in ’98 and everyone knows how. I was not very optimistic on that as he’s very intelligent and he knows his market.”
Blatter insisted on Saturday he was not the high-ranking FIFA official mentioned in the U.S. indictment who authorised the $10 million payment to Jack Warner saying: “Definitely that’s not me.”