LEAD: Poland sacks football official amid corruption suspicions

Nov 30, 2011, 17:10 GMT

Warsaw - Poland's football association PZPN sacked Secretary General Zdzislaw Krecina on Wednesday after suspicions emerged that he was involved in corruption.

The PZPN board voted to fire Krecina, who had served for 12 years as secretary, amid calls from the sports ministry that the officials involved in a corruption affair should step down.

The vote came days after a recording emerged of Krecina and PZPN head Grzegorz Lato that suggested the two took bribes while building new headquarters.

'This is the beginning of changes. PZPN is neither black or white,' said board member Jacek Masiota, who said many others should also go. '(Krecina) apologized that his behavior affected the image of PZPN.'

Some board members thought Krecina's dismissal was likely. When asked about the allegations, Krecina had come across as 'untrustworthy and had plainly lied,' said board member Ryszard Niemiec.

Lato was being investigated by prosecutors for his role in the affair.

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski had called for a 'a clean-up of the undoubtedly bad situation,' especially at a time when Poland was getting ready to host Euro 2012 together with Ukraine.

Sports Minister Joanna Mucha - who had asked prosecutors to investigate the recordings - had called on those involved in the affair to resign.

'After such situations, which are clear and obvious to any normal human being, surely the people in the recordings (should resign),' Mucha said on Tuesday in Brussels.

The affair comes as the football association, which has already been marred by previous corruption scandals, struggled to clean up its image before Euro 2012.