Sabir declined $40,000 ‘gift’
Bermuda Football Association general secretary David Sabir telephoned president Larry Mussenden immediately after being allegedly offered an envelope stuffed with $40,000 by top FIFA official Mohamed bin Hammam.More details emerged yesterday on the cash for votes scandal on the same day as Mussenden withdrew from FIFA’s appeals panel because he gave evidence in the alleged bribery plot involving bin Hammam.According to FIFA reports, Mussenden head of the appeals panel advised Sabir, who was handed the cash by the presidential candidate, “at least indirectly and under the pledge of secrecy” that the BFA would not accept any cash gifts.Sabir represented Bermuda when Caribbean Football Union members were invited to hear the FIFA presidential candidate’s pitch at a hotel in Trinidad last month.Bermuda were among four Caribbean nations whose officials turned down cash payments allegedly arranged by bin Hammam and former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner.Mussenden gave a sworn statement in an evidence dossier that sparked the scandal and prompted FIFA’s ethics panel to suspend two of world football’s most powerful figures.A report into their initial hearings found “compelling” evidence of bribery, and states that Mussenden told Sabir not to accept the envelope filled with $100 bills.The cash allegedly intended to influence Bermuda and the other nations to back bin Hammam against FIFA president Sepp Blatter.The ethics panel’s document, released yesterday, stated that any payment “would have to be accompanied by the proper letters authorising such contribution and it would need to be wire transferred.“Mr. Mussenden confirmed in his affidavit sent to the secretariat to the Ethics Committee upon its request that he advised Mr. Sabir as set out above.”Qatari official bin Hammam faces a full inquiry before FIFA’s ethics committee next month and first wants to overturn a provisional suspension which bars the Asian Football Confederation president from all duties while the investigation continues.FIFA said that Mussenden, a former Bermuda Government attorney general, has recused himself from the appeal hearing.A replacement to chair bin Hammam’s hearing has not yet been appointed. The appeals committee deputy chairmen are Madagascar federation president Ahmad, and Solomon Islands lawyer Charles Ashley.FIFA dropped their investigation of Warner on Monday, saying they no longer had legal authority over the Trinidad and Tobago government minister because he quit all his football positions.Warner denies wrongdoing and retained a “presumption of innocence,” FIFA insisted. He is still required as a witness in the case against bin Hammam who also denies the allegations.