The South African Football Association has questioned the timing of a news report which said that SAFA president Danny Jordaan had hired top lawyers to defend him in the Fifa corruption probe.
In a statement Tuesday evening, Safa said the News24 report was calculated to inflict maximum reputational and other damages to Jordaan and the Association.
Safa Chief Executive Officer, Dennis Mumble, said the timing of the report ahead of Wednesday’s local government election “drags the Association and its President into a political arena that it has clearly requested all political parties not to do.â€
News 24 said Tuesday that it “can reveal that Jordaan, who hopes to be re-elected as the African National Congress’ mayor for Port Elizabeth on Wednesday, has employed top Sandton attorney Anthony Norton and senior advocate Gilbert Marcus to engage with authorities in the US on his behalf.â€
“His local lawyers have also enlisted the services of top New York-based law firm Arnold & Porter to assist their client during the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) probe of FIFA, that has so far seen the arrest of 38 soccer bosses and businessmen since May 2015,†the news website reported.
Mumble said however that the “latest attack once again singles out Dr Jordaan on a matter that our Government has definitively addressed as recently as March 2016.â€
“News24 has once again rehashed a story, replete with innuendo calculated to inflict serious damage on the reputation of Dr Jordaan and the Association,†he said.
“Our Minister of Sport and Recreation, Mr Fikile Mbalula, has comprehensively dealt with these matters and the Association has made available all the evidence on its website proving that the grant made to the North American football confederation was not a bribe,†Mumble said.
