22 Oct 2010

Tonga football boss has no regrets over Sunday Times corruption story

7:14 am on 22 October 2010

The head of Tonga's Football Federation says he has no regrets about speaking openly about being approached by journalists pretending to be agents for the United States World Cup bid.

FIFA's Ethics Committee says it provisionally suspended Ahongalu Fusimalohi and three other officials after examining their cases in relation to breaches of its statutes, disciplinary and ethics codes.

FIFA has also temporarily suspended two executive members, including Oceania representative Reynald Temarii following allegations by Britain's Sunday Times that they offered to sell their votes to the journalists.

Earlier this week Mr Fusimalohi said he had agreed with the journalist's talk of a board membership worth 100,000 US dollars as a joke.

Now he says he will answer to the allegations.

"No no I don't regret anything it's absolute nonsense what these people did. and I don't know what the one-hundred thousand dollars is all about. When they did contact me I told them, I lied to them because I wanted to find out who they were."

Ahongalu Fusimalohi says he only learnt of his suspension when he read it on the FIFA website.