Poland's football association chief Grzegorz Lato on Wednesday rejected allegations that he had taken bribes, as rumours of corruption yet again swirled in the Euro 2012 co-host nation.
Lato rubbished claims by businessman Grzegorz Kulikowski, who in November was behind a leaked recording that led to the sacking of the secretary general of the association, or PZPN.
Wednesday's edition of the Polish tabloid Super Express published an interview with Kulikowski, who has long-standing ties with the PZPN and was once close to Lato.
Kulikowski said he had given Lato and the axed secretary general, Zdzislaw Krecina, an unspecified sum of his own money, pretending it was from another individual who wanted to sell the PZPN land for its new headquarters.
"It was a set-up, to see if they'd take it. And they took it," Kulikowski claimed.
Hitting back, Lato said that Kulikowski had indeed left an "envelope" in his office during a meeting.
"It is not true that I have received any form of pecuniary benefit from Grzegorz Kulikowski," he said in a press release.
Lato said that he had never opened the envelope. Instead, he had it placed in the PZPN's safe and took legal advice, going on to file a formal criminal complaint at the end of January.
Since 2005, Polish football has been rocked by repeated corruption cases, largely over match-fixing.
Over 600 individuals have been jailed or are being prosecuted—including players, referees, club officials and middle-men—and a handful of clubs from various divisions have been relegated as punishment.
Former Poland international Lato was elected as a new broom in 2008 after the PZPN congress axed the association's former leadership, which had been under government pressure over corruption.
Lato symbolises Polish football's glory days of Olympic gold in 1972, silver in 1976, and third place the World Cup in 1974 and 1982. He was the 1974 tournament's top scorer with seven goals.
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