FIFA presidential candidate Mohamed Bin Hammam criticized Sepp Blatter yesterday for donating US$20 million to Interpol to help combat match-fixing, claiming the idea was never approved by FIFA's executive committee.

The FIFA president, who is being challenged by Bin Hammam in a presidential election on June 1 in Zurich, announced the initiative on Monday that aims to combat betting and match-fixing which threaten the integrity of the game globally.

However, in a message on his personal website yesterday, the 62-year-old Qatari said the FIFA executive was never consulted about the donation to Interpol, the largest single grant the organization had received from a private institution.

Bin Hammam also said that while FIFA's name had "been dragged through the mud once more" by allegations made by David Triesman in London this week, he did not believe the organization was corrupt.

"Currently, the President has taken on too much of an Executive role, as evidenced by the recently announced initiative to donate 20 million dollars to Interpol. Imagine FIFA financing Interpol's activities," he said. "This decision was taken arbitrarily by the FIFA President and was not discussed with the Executive Committee. It is just another example of the current regime choosing to run football how it sees fit, rather than doing so in a manner that is consistent with the governing body's proper procedures.

"How on earth can we convince people of FIFA's innocence? It has become clear yet again in recent days that something urgently needs to be done to improve and enhance the image of FIFA," Bin Hammam said.