Pretoria - The Hawks have not opened any formal investigation regarding the FIFA allegations that South African Football Association paid a $10 million bribe to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
According to the Hawks, no case has been opened against anybody in relation to the saga and no formal investigation has been instituted.
“The speculations that have been doing the rounds claiming that Hawks are investigating SAFA President Danny Jordaan and other SAFA officials are simply malicious, baseless and unfounded,” Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said on Thursday.
However, Mulaudzi said the unit has launched a preliminary inquiry file after they received documents from the political party Freedom Front Plus concerning the issue.
The preliminary inquiry, according to Mulaudzi, is to investigate contents of the documents.
“We received information from members of the public and institutions regarding matters of fraud, corruption and other high profile cases almost on a daily basis and we open inquiry files on such information, so there is nothing special about us looking into the matter as presented to us by the FF Plus.
The FIFA controversy saw the dramatic arrests of several high ranking FIFA officials in Zurich during raids by Swiss police acting at United States request in a corruption scandal that was followed by the resignation of FIFA President Sepp Blatter on Tuesday night.
The arrested officials face a range of charges including racketeering and money laundering, spanning 24 years.
United States prosecutors and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have not yet named the South African officials implicated in the recent bribery allegations.
Mulaudzi said they have also not received any correspondence from the FBI or United States authorities regarding the matter.
The South Africa government has repeatedly said they have not paid a bribe to host the 2010 World Cup. - SAnews.gov.za
