Federal Sports Minister Mark Arbib: FIFA must clean up its act

FIFA has to clean up its World Cup bidding process before nations will have the confidence to invest large sums of public money again to compete to host the event, according to Federal Sports Minister Mark Arbib.

Senator Arbib told The Age yesterday that FIFA needed reform similar to that undertaken by the International Olympic Committee following the revelation that several of its members accepted bribes from organising committee officials behind Salt Lake City's bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

The Age quoted Senator Arbib (pictured) as stating "the bidding process itself will need to change before nations have the confidence to invest the large sums required to bid for the World Cup again.

"FIFA will need to undergo a reform process similar to what the International Olympic Committee undertook after Salt Lake City."

After the Salt Lake City bribery scandal surfaced, several Olympic committee members were expelled and rules were tightened to limit the value of gifts that could be accepted from bidding cities.

Senator Arbib's comments came as the corruption scandal surrounding world football's governing body widened on Sunday, with the provisional suspension of FIFA Vice-President Jack Warner, of Trinidad and Tobago, and the Asian Football Confederation President, Qatar's Mohammed bin Hammam.

Both were suspended by FIFA after an internal inquiry confirmed allegations they offered $US40,000 (AUS$37,300) bribes to Caribbean football officials to back bin Hammam's bid to topple Sepp Blatter as FIFA president at a vote tomorrow.

Both men deny the claims and have accused Blatter of breaching FIFA's ethics rules. Bin Hammam withdrew his nomination for the FIFA presidency at the weekend, leaving Blatter unopposed.

A further six FIFA executive committee members are under investigation for allegedly accepting bribes in exchange for their votes from certain nations bidding to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. FIFA's 24-man executive committee last December awarded the 2018 event to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, prompting corruption fears.
Australia's $45.86 million taxpayer-funded bid, which attracted only one vote from FIFA's Executive Committee, heavily courted Warner and bin Hammam at the suggestion of highly paid European consultants Peter Hargitay and Fedor Radmann.

Despite Warner's suspension, Senator Arbib said the Government would not investigate the expenditure of Australian taxpayer funds on Caribbean teams and projects associated with Warner, stating "throughout the bidding process the government sought and received regular assurances that (Football Federation Australia) was working within the Australian Public Service guidelines of ethical conduct."