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The vote for the hosting of the 2010 World Cup was actually won by Morocco and not South Africa, amid allegations that both countries offered bribes for FIFA votes, according to a report in The Sunday Times. The newspaper, which has been at the forefront of the U.S. led investigation into corruption at FIFA which has seen 14 people indicted on charges of wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering, has released extracts from tapes that are being used to support the allegations that FIFA officials took bribes. Ismail Bhamjee, a FIFA executive committee member from Botswana, allegedly said in the tapes that he conferred with his 23 other colleagues after the vote for 2010 which was won by South Africa by 14 votes to 10 in May 2004. "After talking with everybody... Whose votes went where? We're all colleagues, you know," he said. "And then we found out that actually Morocco won by two votes." Bhamjee admits that some members might have lied about their votes but tells the undercover reporters that he believes the ballot papers were deliberately miscounted, adding: "Please, this is very secret." However, The Sunday Times claims that the tapes also reveal that both Morocco and South Africa offered bribes to secure votes. Allegations that both parties deny. The paper reports, after talking with Michel Bacchini -- a former FIFA director who worked as a consultant to the Moroccan bid team -- that former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner accepted a $1 million bribe from Morocco, but then double-crossed them and voted for South Africa. While Ahongalu Fusimalohi, the former FIFA ex-co member from Tonga, allegedly revealed in a different recording that Morocco offered him a $150,000 bribe for his vote which he refused but claimed that others had accepted. Former Egypt sports minister Aley Eddine Helal has claimed that Warner wanted a bribe of $7 million in order to vote for Egypt in the vote, while South Africa's organised and serious crime unit said on Thursday that it was conducting a "preliminary" investigation into bribery allegations surrounding the 2010 World Cup bid. Earlier, South Africa's sports minister Fikile Mbalula had "categorically" denied allegations that a $10 million sum paid to Warner in 2008 was a bribe for his help in securing the World Cup. FIFA president Sepp Blatter announced his resignation on Tuesday amid the corruption scandal and will remain in his position until a special election can be held to appoint his successor in the next six months. Information from the Press Association was used in this report.
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