I personally think its highly likely he took the cash. The Journo who blew the whistle on FIFA is a highly respected investigator with years of experiance in the dealings of FIFA. If he has documentation that showed that $250,000 cash was paid out on the day that Dempsey left and he thinks Dempsey took the money then you would have to support his claim.
What annoys me most is that Dempsey didn't ask for more from the Germans. He disobeyed Oceanias voting instructions which handed Germany the world cup. If he had been smarter/more ruthless he should have cut a deal. I will abstain but Germany must do something to help Oceania. Like build us a football training centre in NZ and send out German coaches to help train Oceania and offer Oceania players scholarships in Germany etc etc.
We could have got a lot of benefit out of the deal.....instead the old fool did a runner. $250,000 is petty cash in the scheme of things. Germany got a great deal...they made millions out of hosting the WC. Oceania got zero. If you are going to get involved with corruption then play the game properly. It seems just about everyone else has been doing it.
Sunday's NZ Herald piece is interesting though because in extensive 2003 interviews with Michael Brown, Dempsey asserts that he was never carrying an instruction from OFC to vote for South Africa in the second round:
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11512172
I think this may well be right. News reports at the time said that Charlie was under instruction to vote for South Africa but this may well have been inaccurate.
A lot of what appears in news reports is later proven to be wrong. Which is why we have history as an a academic discipline to attempt to sift evidence for a truer or more nuanced picture.
It seems that the OFC executive never voted on who to support in the second round of FIFA voting.
The usual OFC shambles.
So Charlie was left to vote for whoever he preferred.
He took his NZ lawyer's advice to abstain from voting.
As with NZ Football's lawyer's dodgy advice over Deklan Wynne's eligibility (not to apply to FIFA for an exemption in case they get turned down), it proves that NZ lawyers are not able to give good advice when it comes to matters of international football. They don't really have competency beyond local club rugby.
At age 79 at the time of the FIFA vote, he was too old to be left to make such decisions on his own.
I'm all for compulsory retirement at a certain age in most jobs (say late '60's to 70)
A nursing student was killed when a 75 year old commercial truck driver hit her bicycle a couple of years ago here in Christchurch.
(He was found to be entirely at fault)
How 75 year-olds can be employed as truck drivers beats me.