The chief organiser of South Africa’s 2010 World Cup was one of two senior football officials named in a criminal complaint alleging corruption in the FIFA vote to decide the tournament host.

South Africa’s main opposition party, The Democratic Alliance, said it had filed papers with police asking them to investigate the involvement of former World Cup head Danny Jordaan and former South African Football Association President Molefi Oliphant in alleged bribery of FIFA executives to get the World Cup.

The Democratic Alliance said the two men should be investigated over a payment of $10m by South Africa to Jack Warner, a former FIFA executive indicted by United States authorities on charges of bribery and racketeering and now facing extradition.

US authorities investigating corruption at FIFA say former executive committee member Chuck Blazer admitted the money was a bribe in return for Blazer, Warner and a third FIFA executive backing South Africa in the 2004 vote.

The three votes were decisive in South Africa beating Morocco.

A matter of $10m

The involvement of Jordaan, the current head of the South African Football Association, and Oliphant should be investigated, the DA said, after they both wrote letters to FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke asking that $10m be taken off South Africa’s World Cup budget from FIFA and sent to Warner.

Oliphant declined to comment, telling The Associated Press he “cannot respond” to the allegations because he had not seen them in detail. Jordaan did not immediately reply to a message seeking comment.

The South African government has denied the 2008 payment was a bribe, describing it as money given to Warner’s Caribbean region for legitimate football development. But the US Department of Justice alleges it was payback for the three FIFA officials backing South Africa four years earlier.