Shortly after South Africa won the bid to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the local organising committee (LOC) paid $10 million to FIFA, soccer supremo, Danny Jordaan, admitted at the weekend.

However, Jordaan, who was the CEO of the LOC at the time, rejected claims that this was a backhander. He said the funds were meant for the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) in 2008 as South Africa’s contribution towards their football development fund.

Jack Warner, FIFA’s former vice-president and a member of parliament in Trinidad and Tobago, was president of Concacaf at the time. Warner was among those arrested last week in a US-led probe into corruption in world football. He was released on bail on Thursday last week and is facing an extradition request from the US government. Claims have emerged that Warner, in return, paid some of the money to two other unnamed FIFA executives.

Two distinct probes are being conducted by the Swiss and American powers for alleged widespread and long-running corruption within FIFA. According to the AFP, Swiss prosecutors have said a number of top football officials have been quizzed by Swiss sleuths and FIFA’s president Sepp Blatter too could be quizzed “in the future if needed.”