The Fifa presidential candidate Prince Ali bin al-Hussein’s election team has been in contact with the police after claiming it had been approached by an individual who said he could deliver 47 votes at Friday’s election.

The alleged approach was made in April and the individual also offered to provide “what appeared to be illegally obtained” information relating to the financial activities of the Fifa president Sepp Blatter, the election team also claimed.

The individual was not identified, although the campaign said he was a third party who was not part of Fifa nor connected to any national football association. The matter was referred to Quest, a UK-based corporate intelligence firm which was asked to contact the police. The votes offer was rejected, the campaign added, and Fifa’s ethics committee was not informed.

“Our goal was not to create a campaign issue but to properly react to an approach made to us that appeared to involve criminal activity,” the campaign alleged in a statement. “The campaign did not want to do anything that could jeopardise the police investigation.

“Because the claims made by the individual strongly suggested criminal acts, Quest referred the matter to the proper law-enforcement authorities. We did not engage the Fifa ethics committee because the individuals concerned were third parties who were not part of Fifa, nor were they national association representatives.”

Quest, headed by the former London police commissioner John Stevens, said in a previous statement that Prince Ali had engaged it in January to ensure “the highest levels of integrity and ethical standards throughout his campaign for the presidency of Fifa”.

“The individual’s claims to have obtained information illegally are now under police investigation,” Quest also claimed. “Prince Ali’s campaign has not received any offers involving questionable behaviour or potential illegalities from Fifa member associations or individuals claiming to act on their behalf.”

Prince Ali is the only challenger to Blatter in Friday’s election after the Dutch FA president Michael van Praag and former Portugal forward Luís Figo withdrew last week. Blatter is the runaway favourite to secure a fifth mandate.

Each of Fifa’s 209 member associations holds one vote at the election.