The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday denied reports that it is investigating allegations made by Glen Hoddle, one of the coaches interviewed for the Super Eagles Technical Adviser's job last month that some Nigerian officials demanded a bribe of $500, 000 from him to offer him the job.

Kwara State Governor, Bukola Saraki had said that Hoddle complained to him that some officials demanded he inflate his wage demands by $500,000 because this would guarantee the Englishman the job to lead the Super Eagles to the 2010 World Cup.

EFCC spokesman, Femi Babafemi told Trustsports on phone yesterday that the agency has not received such report, and that is it investigating such a case.

However, Babafemi assured that the agency would not hesitate to investigate the case if brought to their notice, stressing that "it is the responsibility of EFCC to investigate such cases and if brought to our notice, we will investigate it".

According to Governor Saraki, "My working with Hoddle was borne out of patriotism and my conviction that the right thing must be done. I met Hoddle, who complained that he was asked to part with $500,000 out of his $1.5 million (proposed salary) and that that was the only way to do business in Nigeria," said Saraki.

"He said some people asked him to quote $1.5 million instead of the $900,000 he asked for."

Football agent John Ola Shittu, who worked with Hoddle for the Nigeria job disclosed that the country's anti-corruption body, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), is now investigating this scandal after Saraki and he complained to the head of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) for the World Cup, Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi.

"It is high time that criminals parading themselves as sports officials in Nigeria were brought to book," said Shittu.

Chairman of the technical committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Taiwo Ogunjobi, challenged Shittu to reveal the identity of the officials who demanded for this massive kickback.

"If he is sure of himself, let him reveal the identity of those who told Hoddle to inflate his salary," said Ogunjobi, who was on the interview panel to hire a new Nigeria coach.

Another official added: "We were very transparent in the process of engaging a new coach and the scores of all the coaches have been published in the media."