FA report puts paid to claims by Triesman

The continuing recriminations from England's disastrous bid to earn the right to host the 2018 World Cup took another twist yesterday when the Football Association's report into corruption claims by Lord Triesman against Fifa executive committee members was revealed to have found no evidence to support its former chairman, according to Jérôme Valcke, the world governing body's general secretary.

The FA asked James Dingemans QC to investigate independently Triesman's allegations, which were made in all against four members of Fifa's ex-co, the body which chooses World Cup host nations.

The FA delivered the extensive report to Fifa on Friday but yesterday was the first indication of its conclusions. Valcke said there would be no further investigations into what Triesman claimed.

During yesterday's announcement of the suspension of Mohamed bin Hammam and Jack Warner from all football-related activity over allegations of offering bribes to members of the Caribbean Football Union, Valcke was questioned over Triesman's evidence to the parliamentary inquiry into football governance that the regional body Concafaf's president, Jack Warner, had asked for funding towards a development project in West Indies.

Triesman, who resigned as FA chairman last May after he was recorded making bribery allegations against Spain and Russia, also said that Ricardo Teixeira, the head of Brazilian football, had said to him "you come and tell me what you have for me".

He also said that Thailand's Worawi Makudi wanted the TV rights to a planned friendly between England and Thailand, while Nicolas Leoz of Paraguay had asked for a knighthood.

Valcke told the press conference at Fifa's Zurich HQ: "All the people here are completely clean, especially Mr Teixeira and Mr Makudi."

Valcke went on to highlight that no evidence had been found by Dingemans during interviews with other members of the England 2018 team.

Valcke also claimed that the report contradicted what Triesman alleged. He spoke of Sir Dave Richards, the chairman of the Premier League and a long-time adversary of Triesman, saying that he had no memory of Warner asking for monies for a football development to be channelled through him, or that Warner had asked for £500,000 to help buy World Cup TV rights for Haiti in the wake of the earthquake.

The FA report has yet to be made public but Fifa has promised that it will release it in its entirety once it has had the opportunity to study it in full detail.