adminLONDON. — A former senior official of Fifa and his family were paid almost US$2 million (£1.2m) from a Qatari firm liked to the Gulf state’s successful bid for the 2022 World Cup soccer finals, according to a report in yesterday’s edition of Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper. The Telegraph said Jack Warner, the former vice-president of Fifa, appeared to have been personally paid US$1.2 million from a company controlled by a former Qatari official shortly after the controversial decision to award the country the tournament.
Payments totalling almost US$750 000 were made to Warner’s sons, according to documents seen by the Telegraph. A further US$400 000 was paid to one of his employees.
The Telegraph also said a company owned by Mohamed Bin Hammam, the then Fifa executive member for Qatar, appeared to pay US$1.2 million to Warner in 2011.
Bin Hammam, who launched an abortive challenge against incumbent Fifa president Sepp Blatter, resigned from his Fifa and Asian Football Confederation posts in 2012, shortly before he was banned for life from football administration by the global governing body’s ethics committee.
Warner was one of the most experienced members of the executive committee until he stood down in 2011 and served as vice-president of Fifa for 14 years.
He was one of the 22 people who decided to award Russia the 2018 World Cup and Qatar the 2022 tournament.
Six weeks before the December 2010 vote in Zurich that decided the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, an official was caught in an undercover investigation agreeing to sell his vote. A second member of the same committee was recorded asking for £1.5 million for a sports academy.
Both officials were suspended, meaning that 22 people voted instead of the usual 24.
The decision to give the World Cup to Qatar, a country with little football history, provoked widespread condemnation particularly over health concerns for leading players. — AFP.
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