OCA threatens legal action against vote-buying allegations

KUWAIT CITY: The Olympic Council of Asia is threatening legal action over allegations it was attempting to buy votes for a candidate in the campaign for a seat on the executive committee of soccer world governing body FIFA.

"Clearly, the OCA cannot leave such accusations unanswered and is now preparing to undertake legal action," the continental Olympic committee said in a statement.

FIFA's ethics commission is investigating claims made by one of its panel members that the OCA was offering inducements to support Bahrain's Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Khalifa in his campaign against Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar for the FIFA executive committee position.