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Chuck Blazer welcomes Fifa's lifetime ban for Mohamed bin Hammam
• 'Very good day for football,' says Concacaf general secretary
• Chuck Blazer informed Fifa of cash-for-votes allegations
Chuck Blazer said the lifetime ban handed to Mohamed bin Hammam will act as a deterrent. Photograph: Jasper Juinen/Fifa via Getty Images
Mohamed bin Hammam's chief accuser, the Fifa executive-committee member Chuck Blazer, has welcomed the lifetime ban handed to the Qatari as a deterrent to anyone tempted to bribe another football official.
Blazer, the general secretary of Concacaf, informed Fifa head office of the corruption scandal that had engulfed the meeting of the Caribbean Football Union on 10-11 May.
"I learned through some members that cash was being offered to members of our confederation for their votes and to me that's about as bad a situation as I can imagine," Blazer said of the extraordinary congress at which $1m (£613,000) cash changed hands in brown envelopes, leading to Bin Hammam's ban.
"I believe vote-buying is unacceptable and I felt that had to be said widely and clearly, and I am very glad the ethics committee has confirmed that, regarding bribery, we have zero tolerance.
"It sets a precedent and one that I fully support. It's a very good day for football in that it has been demonstrated that the process we adopted five years ago with the ethics code and committee is able to work. The fact we have suffered suspensions is sad but it will send notice to anybody else that might be considering that type of corrupt activity that Fifa is not the place to try it."
There were hints on Sunday that the forthcoming parliamentary report into football governance will call for a formal inquiry into the decision to award the 2022 World Cup hosting rights to Bin Hammam's native Qatar. Damian Collins, who sits on the select committee for culture, media and sport that is authoring the report, said on his website: "This is a day of shame for football's governing body. These are such serious charges from the Fifa ethics committee that there should now be a fuller inquiry into Bin Hammam's other recent work within Fifa, and in particular his role on the Fifa executive during the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups."
If Qatar, which has consistently denied vote-buying in that decision, were for any reason stripped of the tournament it would be in the interests of one nation in particular: Blazer's United States, which Qatar beat in the final round by 14 votes to eight. However, Blazer said he was motivated by a desire to guarantee propriety in Fifa's political sphere. He added his belief that it had been slipping away from Concacaf under the presidency of Jack Warner, the Fifa vice-president who – though denying the charges – resigned from all his football posts in June after being accused of the same alleged misdeeds as Bin Hammam.
Blazer said: "I sat next to Bin Hammam for 15 years and enjoyed a very pleasant relationship with him. But when I saw the stuff which was happening, even going back to 1 April when he asked for this curious congress to be held, it made me raise my eyebrows and ask 'What the Hell is going on here?'
"I had also worked with Jack Warner for 21 years but over the past few years, as I started to look at certain things, I felt very uncomfortable. This was not the way we conducted things in the past."
• 'Very good day for football,' says Concacaf general secretary
• Chuck Blazer informed Fifa of cash-for-votes allegations
- Matt Scott
- guardian.co.uk, Sunday 24 July 2011 17.59 BST
- Article history
Chuck Blazer said the lifetime ban handed to Mohamed bin Hammam will act as a deterrent. Photograph: Jasper Juinen/Fifa via Getty ImagesMohamed bin Hammam's chief accuser, the Fifa executive-committee member Chuck Blazer, has welcomed the lifetime ban handed to the Qatari as a deterrent to anyone tempted to bribe another football official.
Blazer, the general secretary of Concacaf, informed Fifa head office of the corruption scandal that had engulfed the meeting of the Caribbean Football Union on 10-11 May.
"I learned through some members that cash was being offered to members of our confederation for their votes and to me that's about as bad a situation as I can imagine," Blazer said of the extraordinary congress at which $1m (£613,000) cash changed hands in brown envelopes, leading to Bin Hammam's ban.
"I believe vote-buying is unacceptable and I felt that had to be said widely and clearly, and I am very glad the ethics committee has confirmed that, regarding bribery, we have zero tolerance.
"It sets a precedent and one that I fully support. It's a very good day for football in that it has been demonstrated that the process we adopted five years ago with the ethics code and committee is able to work. The fact we have suffered suspensions is sad but it will send notice to anybody else that might be considering that type of corrupt activity that Fifa is not the place to try it."
There were hints on Sunday that the forthcoming parliamentary report into football governance will call for a formal inquiry into the decision to award the 2022 World Cup hosting rights to Bin Hammam's native Qatar. Damian Collins, who sits on the select committee for culture, media and sport that is authoring the report, said on his website: "This is a day of shame for football's governing body. These are such serious charges from the Fifa ethics committee that there should now be a fuller inquiry into Bin Hammam's other recent work within Fifa, and in particular his role on the Fifa executive during the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups."
If Qatar, which has consistently denied vote-buying in that decision, were for any reason stripped of the tournament it would be in the interests of one nation in particular: Blazer's United States, which Qatar beat in the final round by 14 votes to eight. However, Blazer said he was motivated by a desire to guarantee propriety in Fifa's political sphere. He added his belief that it had been slipping away from Concacaf under the presidency of Jack Warner, the Fifa vice-president who – though denying the charges – resigned from all his football posts in June after being accused of the same alleged misdeeds as Bin Hammam.
Blazer said: "I sat next to Bin Hammam for 15 years and enjoyed a very pleasant relationship with him. But when I saw the stuff which was happening, even going back to 1 April when he asked for this curious congress to be held, it made me raise my eyebrows and ask 'What the Hell is going on here?'
"I had also worked with Jack Warner for 21 years but over the past few years, as I started to look at certain things, I felt very uncomfortable. This was not the way we conducted things in the past."