A South African newspaper has published a 2007 letter linking the country's chief World Cup organiser to a $10 million payment made to projects linked to Jack Warner, then a FIFA executive and now a suspect in a corruption probe.
In the letter published Friday by the Mail and Guardian newspaper, Danny Jordaan, then head of South Africa's World Cup organising committee, says the money should be paid by FIFA, not the South African government.
U.S. investigators have accused unnamed South African officials of channeling $10 million through FIFA to Warner as a bribe for backing the country's successful World Cup bid.
South African Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula has acknowledged the existence of Jordaan's letter but says South Africa was not involved in bribery.
South Africa's organised and serious crime unit said on Thursday it was conducting a "preliminary" investigation into bribery allegations surrounding the 2010 World Cup bid.
The Justice Department believes that $10 million was sent by South Africa, through FIFA, to Warner in three wire transfers in 2008 as payback for him and two other then-FIFA executive committee members for backing South Africa in the 2004 vote.
South Africa won the World Cup by four votes over Morocco, making the ballots of Warner and his two "co-conspirators" decisive.