Enkenbach-Alsenborn (Germany): A high-ranking FIFA official was sent home from the World Cup in disgrace on Saturday after admitting he sold World Cup tickets for three times face value.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter said he was "furious" after Botswana's Ismail Bhamjee confirmed he sold tickets at inflated prices.
Blatter chaired an Emergency Committee meeting that decided to relieve Bhamjee from World Cup duties and asked him to "leave Germany at the earliest possible moment."
He will remain a member of the executive committee, pending further action.
"I am very disappointed at what came out here," Blatter said after the unveiling of a monument to 1954 World Cup winner Fritz Walter.
Blatter said a British journalist came to FIFA with evidence of the scalping. Bhamjee was then confronted by FIFA.
"This is a fact that really makes me furious," Blatter said.
"This man must leave the competition immediately. His accreditation is being revoked. It is so disappointing."
Bhamjee, 62, admitted to the committee he sold tickets for England's match against Trinidad and Tobago at Nuremburg on June 15 for $380. The tickets had a face value of $127.
"I deeply regret this incorrect act and apologize to FIFA for violating the relevant terms and conditions governing the sale of tickets for the World Cup," Bhamjee said in a statement.
Bhamjee is head of the Botswana soccer association.
FIFA's executive committee comprises Blatter, a senior vice president, six vice presidents and 16 other members, including Bhamjee.
Bhamjee also was deputy chairman of FIFA's Associations Committee and a member of the finance committee.
At the World Cup, he was a designated match commissioner based in Frankfurt.
Bhamjee attended the FIFA Congress in Munich on June 8, when members voted 188-6 in favor of establishing an independent Ethics Committee.
Soccer has been mired in a string of corruption and match-fixing scandals on several continents.
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