SOUTH AFRICA - SAFA RUBBISHES MEDIA REPORTS OF PE MAYOR, DANNY JORDAAN HIRING LAWYERS FOR FBI INVESTIGATION

The SA Football Association has rubbished media reports that its president, Danny Jordaan, hired Johannesburg and New York lawyers to defend him as the FBI continues its investigations of corruption at the sport's world controlling body, Fifa.

The website claimed that his South African lawyers had enlisted the services of New York law firm Arnold & Porter as local correspondents.

But Safa CE Dennis Mumble said no lawyers had been hired to defend Jordaan.

"[He] does not have to defend himself against the allegations because there is no indictment against him."

Mumble said Safa was "astounded" by the attacks on Jordaan and on its reputation.

"News24 has once again rehashed a story replete with innuendo calculated to inflict serious damage on the reputation of Jordaan and the association."

Mumble said Sport and Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula had dealt with all matters related to the Fifa fraud investigations.

"[The] association has made available all the evidence on its website proving that the grant made to the North American Football Confederation was not a bribe," he said.

"All this information, which News24 is regurgitating, has been made available on the Safa website for months."

Jordaan could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Norton, said: "I am unable to comment. I am not permitted."

The FBI is still investigating allegations of a 2010 World Cup bribery scandal.

"This case is [current] so we do not make comments about it outside the two press releases issued last year," FBI spokes-man Kelly Langmesser said in June.

An indictment drawn up by the US Attorney for the eastern district of New York alleges that South African officials paid bribes in two batches to secure the rights to host the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

The first bribe is said to have been paid in bundles of $10000, which Daryan Warner, a member of the family of Jack Warner, Fifa's disgraced former vice-president, collected from a Paris hotel.

The man who gave the money to Warner is listed as a high-ranking official of the 2006 South Africa World Cup bid committee, the 2010 World Cup bid committee, and the 2010 local organising committee, and of Safa.

The other alleged bribe was a $10-million payment drawn from a Fifa fund earmarked for the development of football in South Africa, which allegedly ended up in the pockets of Jack Warner and his friends.

It is alleged that a South African football official and the government promised Warner money for football development in the "African diaspora" under the auspices of the Caribbean Football Union.

Safa has repeatedly denied that the $10-million payment was a bribe.

VIA - timeslive.co.za