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In what comes as a major blow to the credibility of world football’s governing body FIFA, The Telegraph have disclosed that a Qatari firm paid a sum of $2?million to a senior FIFA official and his family for Qatar’s successful bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Jack Warner, the former vice-president of FIFA, appears to have been paid the sum, shortly after Qatar won the rights to host football’s biggest event, from a company controlled by a former Qatari football official.
Documents with The Telegraph claim that Mr.Warner’s sons were paid $750,000 and a further $400,000 is believed to have been paid to one of Mr.Warner’s employees. The documents claim that Mohamed Bin Hammam, the FIFA executive member for Qatar, appeared to pay $1.2?million to Mr Warner in 2011.
Jamad, one of Mr.Warner’s companies has sent a note to Mr.Bin Hammam’s firm, Kemco, asking for $1.2?million to be paid for work carried out between 2005 and 2010. Dated 15 December 2010, the note comes just two weeks after Qatar won the rights to host the event in 2022 and explicitly mentions that the money “is payable to Jack Warner”. This, apart from the $1 million paid to Mr.Warner’s son and an employee, raises serious questions over the motive behind awarding the rights.
The money is believed to have been transferred to a bank in New York after a bank in Cayman Islands refused to process the transaction over fears of the legality of the transfer. A well-placed source said: “These payments need to be properly investigated. The World Cup is the most important event in football and we need to be confident that decisions have been made for the right reasons. There are lots of questions that still need to be answered.”
The FBI and the FIFA Ethics committee are continuing to investigate the irregularities surrounding the bidding process with one of Mr.Warner’s sons helping the inquiry as a co-operating witness.
The decision to award Qatar the summer World Cup has been one of the most controversial decisions taken by FIFA with the extreme heat in the country raising the prospect of the event being played in the winter for the first time ever.
Many FIFA officials have faced corruption allegations over the decision although Qatar continues to deny any wrongdoing on their part and insists that they won the bid fair and square.
Jack Warner resigned from all posts in June 2011 after he was accused of coercing members of the Caribbean football union to vote for Mohamed Bin Hammam in exchange for money. Bin Hammam was standing against Sepp Blatter to be FIFA president at the time.
Mr Warner and his family declined to comment on the latest expose. A spokesman for Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organizing committee said: “The 2022 bid committee strictly adhered to FIFA’s bidding regulations in compliance with their code of ethics. The supreme committee for delivery and legacy and the individuals involved in the 2022 bid committee are unaware of any allegations surrounding business dealings between private individuals.”
