FIFA announced today that vice-president Jack Warner and presidential candidate Mohamed Bin Hammam have been charged with bribery.

The pair will face FIFA's ethics committee on Sunday where they will face long bans if the allegations - made by fellow executive committee member Chuck Blazer - are proved. Both have denied any wrongdoing.

The crisis puts a big question mark over whether the FIFA presidential election between Sepp Blatter and Bin Hammam on Wednesday will go ahead. Bin Hammam, from Qatar, has declared the charge is a tactic by Blatter in an attempt to boost his chances in Wednesday's election.

Blazer, an American who is the general secretary of the CONCACAF federation of which Warner is president, has alleged that the violations of FIFA's code of ethics occurred during a meeting organised by Bin Hammam and Warner for Caribbean Football Union (CFU) associations in Trinidad two weeks ago.

Two CFU officials, Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester, have also been charged.

Press Association Sport can reveal details of the allegations contained in a file of evidence has been put together by a firm of US-based lawyers and sent to FIFA.

The file includes sworn affidavits by several members of the CFU who claim they were offered thousands of dollars in cash for "development projects" at the meeting, which Bin Hammam had been invited to in order to speak about his campaign for FIFA president. Some of the bundles of cash were accepted, the file says, but some of those who refused to take any money approached Blazer. Some of the evidence in the file includes photographs.

FIFA today confirmed the charges, saying in a statement: "On 24 May, 2011, FIFA executive committee member and CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer reported to FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke possible violations of the FIFA code of ethics allegedly committed by officials.

"In particular, the report referred to a special meeting of the Caribbean Football Union, apparently organised jointly by FIFA vice-president Jack A. Warner and FIFA executive committee member Mohamed Bin Hammam, which took place on 10-11 May 2011. This meeting was linked to the upcoming FIFA presidential election.

"In view of the facts alleged in this report, which include bribery allegations, FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke, in compliance with article 16 of the Fifa code of ethics, yesterday requested the FIFA ethics committee open ethics proceedings."

The four people charged have been invited to respond to the allegations by Friday and to attend a hearing in Zurich on Sunday.

The ethics committee will be chaired by the committee's deputy chairman Petrus Damaseb, a judge from Namibia, after the Swiss chairman Claudio Sulser ruled himself out on the grounds that he is the same nationality as Blatter.

Bin Hammam insisted he was confident he would be absolved of all charges.

He said in a statement: "This has been a difficult and painful day for me today.

"But, if there is even the slightest justice in the world, these allegations will vanish in the wind. This move is little more than a tactic being used by those who have no confidence in their own ability to emerge successfully from the FIFA presidential election.

"I completely deny any allegations of wrongdoing either intentionally or unknowingly while I was in the Caribbean."

Warner also made reference to Wednesday's presidential election.

He said: "I am not aware of any wrongdoing on my part and I shall listen to allegations made and respond accordingly.

"It is interesting to note the timing of these allegations and the hearing scheduled days before the FIFA presidential elections."

The new investigation follows on from a separate inquiry launched earlier this month by FIFA into claims made in Parliament regarding the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups last year.

The former FA chairman Lord Triesman alleged during a culture, media and sport select committee hearing that he had witnessed "improper and unethical" behaviour by four ExCo members - including Warner - during his time as England's 2018 World Cup bid chairman.

Two other ExCo members - FIFA vice-president Issa Hayatou of Cameroon and Jacques Anouma of the Ivory Coast - were accused in the committee of having been paid 1.5million US dollars each to back Qatar's successful bid to host the 2022 finals in a submission to the committee by the Sunday Times.

The FA have appointed a barrister to review if there is any evidence to corroborate Triesman's allegations and to report back by Friday.

Damian Collins, the MP that named Hayatou and Anouma in Parliament as allegedly receiving bribes from Qatar 2022, said FIFA should now abandon the presidential election planned for Wednesday next week.

Collins told Press Association Sport: "FIFA need to have a proper independent investigation and the timetable does not allow this to happen before next week.

"If Bin Hammam is suspended it would be unacceptable for the election to simply become a shoe-in for Sepp Blatter.

"There must be a new election with new candidates allowed to come forward."