FIFA Boss Blatter Avoids Media Questions on Corruption Scandal

© AP Photo / Ronald ZakFIFA President Joseph Blatter gestures as he waits for the start of the 39th Ordinary UEFA Congress in Vienna, Austria
FIFA President Joseph Blatter gestures as he waits for the start of the 39th Ordinary UEFA Congress in Vienna, Austria - Sputnik International
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FIFA President Joseph Blatter refused Saturday to elaborate on the corruption scandal that has massively tarnished the image of the world's most popular game.

Joseph Blatter - Sputnik International
FIFA President Hits Back at US Accusations of Corruption
ZURICH (Sputnik) The head of world football’s governing body, who was re-elected on Friday, faced the media three days after the US Justice Department indicted 14 suspects — among them nine senior FIFA officials — with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering. Seven of the FIFA defendants were arrested in Switzerland on a US federal corruption warrant.

"I do not go into these allegations, or your question. If such a thing is now somewhere in investigation, so let the investigation go and definitely it’s not me," Blatter said when asked if it was him who paid a $10-million bribe to one of the defendants.

Jack Warner, former president of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), was accused by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation of receiving a total of $10 million in the run-up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Incumbent CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb was also among the officials arrested on Wednesday.

No charges were brought up against Blatter, who was later re-elected for his fifth term in office as FIFA president after his only rival Prince Ali Bin Hussein withdrew following the first round of the vote.

The 79-year-old has served as head of FIFA since 1998.

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