By Andrew Warshaw and Paul Nicholson
June 1 – Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organisers have been quick to respond to the explosive allegations of corruption published by English newspaper the Sunday Times, saying that the bid committee broke no rules and that Mohamed bin Hammam was not part of the bid team. FIFA’s chief investigator Michael Garcia is meeting Qatar 2022 bid officials today as part of his on-going investigation of the conduct of all the bidding member associations.
AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has also expressed “grave concerns” over the reports in a statement issued by his offices, and offers his support to the embattled Qataris.
In the statement Salman says that “hosting the FIFA World Cup in Asia, especially in the Middle East, means a lot to the continent and he is looking forward to seeing a successful FIFA World Cup in Qatar.” He contuniues saying that he is “convinced that the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, will do their utmost to clear the doubts.”
The claims surrounding alleged secret payments made to high-ranking African officials by bin Hammam, Qatar’s disgraced former Asian Football Confederation president, designed to win favour and support for Qatar’s bid, are arguably the most damaging since the Gulf state recorded a landslide 14-8 victory in December 2010.
In a statement to INSIDEworldfootball from the the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, the Qataris held their often-quoted stance that bin Hammam had nothing to do with the bid per se, distancing themselves from the former FIFA vice-president. The statement also insisted that they did not break any bidding rules.
“The Qatar 2022 Bid Committee always upheld the highest standard of ethics and integrity in its successful bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup,” the statement said.
“In regard to the latest allegations from The Sunday Times, we say again that Mohamed Bin Hammam played no official or unofficial role in Qatar’s 2022 Bid Committee. As was the case with every other member of FIFA’s Executive Committee, our bid team had to convince Mr. Bin Hammam of the merits of our bid.”
Garcia is due to meet with Qatari officials today and the statement added: “We are cooperating fully with Mr. Garcia’s on-going investigation and remain totally confident that any objective enquiry will conclude we won the bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup fairly.
“Following today’s newspaper articles, we vehemently deny all allegations of wrong-doing. We will take whatever steps are necessary to defend the integrity of Qatar’s bid and our lawyers are looking in to this matter. The right to host the tournament was won because it was the best bid and because it is time for the Middle East to host its first FIFA World Cup.”
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