By Andrew Warshaw
February 17 – World football’s governing body today denied reports that its controversial vice-president Jack Warner had been investigated by its Ehics Committee over the alleged sale of World Cup black market tickets.
According to a report in Dagbladet, the Norwegian newspaper, the item was top of the agenda at a meeting in Zurich on yesterday.
Last August the newspaper claimed that Warner tried to buy tickets for the 2010 World Cup and had arranged to sell them on to European ticketing agencies.
Norwegian journalists confronted Sepp Blatter at a press conference in October and asked about the allegations, only to be given short shrift by the FIFA President.
According to Dagbladet, Warner, head of the CONCACAF Confederation comprising North and Central America, allegedly ordered tickets for several 2010 World Cup games.
However, the deal with a group named Euroteam apparently fell through for unknown reasons.
Reports this week suggested FIFA had taken the matter into their own hands and was investigating Warner’s alleged illegal dealings, secretly placing the claims on the agenda of its Ethics Committee.
A FIFA spokesman confirmed the Committee had met but insisted the alleged ticket scam involving Warner was not discussed.
“There will be no statement because there were no major points on the agenda,” he told insideworldfootball.
“It was a business as usual meeting.
“Jack Warner was not on the agenda, that’s not true.
“We can say that definitely.”
Warner’s name has long been associated with ticketing scandals, however.
The veteran Trinidadian was fined almost $1 million by FIFA for selling black market tickets for the 2006 World Cup in Germany yet kept his place on the FIFA Executive Committee.
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