Accusations all round as FIFA crisis deepens

PARIS - One of the most remarkable days in FIFA’s 98-year history ended in spectacular fashion on Thursday when general secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen launched legal action against CONCACAF president Jack Warner and his general secretary Chuck Blazer for defamation of character.The move is unprecedented in the annals of world soccer’s governing body and was just one of four astonishing developments as the crisis at the heart of FIFA deepened.Zen-Ruffinen's action came on the same day that Issa Hayatou of Cameroon presented his election manifesto, kicking off his campaign to wrest the FIFA presidency from beleaguered Sepp Blatter in Seoul at next month’s Congress.In the day’s third development Hayatou and UEFA president Lennart Johansson both called on Blatter to open an investigation into allegations that a vote cast for Haiti at the 1998 FIFA presidential election was fraudulent.Hayatou also launched an attack on Jerome Champagne, Blatter's presidential advisor, accusing him of interfering in the work of some confederations and undermining officials in their jobs.Then Zen-Ruffinen, in the most candid interview he has given in his four years in his post, accused Blatter of effectively “gagging him” by suspending the work of the internal audit committee set up to examine the state of FIFA’s finances because he had “delicate information” he could have given the committee.A huge gulf now exists between them and it would seem inconceivable that Zen-Ruffinen will hold his position after the May 29 vote if Blatter is re-elected president. Indeed Blatter may attempt to remove him from office before then, although under the FIFA constitution Zen-Ruffinen is answerable to the executive committee and not Blatter.ends