Fifa has denied reports that controversial figure Issa Hayatou had been appointed as head of the London 2012 football tournament, claiming the announcement was down to a “technical error”.
Hayatou was one of executives who were alleged to have taken a bribe (in his case R100 000) in BBC programme Panorama’s exposé of “Fifa’s dirty secrets” last year.
Despite this, Fifa ran a news story on its website announcing Hayatou had replaced Korea’s Chung Mong-joon as head of Fifa’s Olympic committee, and also been appointed chairman of the Goal Bureau (which distributes money for development projects). This is despite the fact the International Olympic Committee investigation into Hayatou is still ongoing.
Fifa released a statement which read: “Due to a technical error, appointments for Fifa standing committees have appeared on the Fifa website.
The appointments for the chairman and deputy chairman of the Fifa standing committees will be communicated in due course.