By Paul Nicholson
June 17 – International police organisation Interpol has issued a statement in response to what it says is a “false report” published in a leading British Sunday newspaper last weekend.
Rupert Murdoch-owned The Sunday Times ran a story titled ‘Interpol calls for criminal inquiry into 2022 bids’. Interpol, in a statement issued on Sunday, that: “No such call was ever made.”
The statement continued: “INTERPOL has stated clearly on several occasions that it supports the FIFA inquiries, headed by Michael J. Garcia, a former US prosecutor and that it believes allegations of criminal corruption should be thoroughly investigated wherever they occur.
“INTERPOL’s standpoint was once again underlined by Secretary General Ronald K. Noble during an interview with CNN’s Richard Quest on Friday, 13 June, when Mr Noble also emphasized that Mr Garcia is an experienced, thorough and expert investigator and that his findings and recommendations should be accepted and implemented by FIFA.”
The Sunday Times has run an explosive series of reports over the past three weeks on scandal within FIFA’s executive committee and in particular on monies paid by former Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president and FIFA executive committee member Mohamed Bin Hammam.
The paper has continually linked Bin Hammam’s activity to the Qatari 2022 bid though the Qataris have claimed throughout that he was never part of Qatar’s 2022 bid committee or acting in conjunction with it or with its knowledge.
Bin Hammam at the time was preparing for a run at the presidency of FIFA and the bulk of the payments so far revealed now look more likely to have been to illegally influence this campaign than specifically for the 2022 Bid campaign. There was, of course, a potentially positive knock-on effect for the bid with Bin Hammam being a Qatari. The simple links will inevitably be drawn – and need to be explored. But proving that they without doubt bought executive committee votes is a significant leap over a large gap and hard to irrefutably justify as more information becomes available.
In a statement issued by Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy last Saturday evening, the Qataris ciriticised the approach of “guilt by association”. It goes on to say: “…we have never denied we had a relationship with Mr Bin Hammam. As a member of the football world and as member of Qatari society, he often crossed paths with influential Qatari citizens, including members of our bid team.
“Further, because Mr Bin Hammam was a member of the Executive Committee, we had to present our plans to him and convince him that our bid was the right choice for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. And as Mr Bin Hammam was also Confederation President and a voting member, it was important for us to maintain a working relationship with him. None of this was improper. We hoped, of course that Mr Bin Hammam would support our bid. But we hoped for the same from every Executive Committee member.”
The Sunday Time is understood to have based its stories on information gleaned from a computer hard drive containing millions of AFC emails. How the hard drive came into the hands of the Sunday Times is unclear. The Sunday Times claims its source was a senior figure within FIFA, though that now appears unlikely.
A leading FIFA official who wanted to be unnamed confirmed to INSIDEworldfootball that “a FIFA source for the leak of data is highly unlikely”. He also said that an internal investigation is in process.
Rumours are that it was acquired from a former investigator looking into the Bin Hammam scandal on behalf of the AFC. A scandal that eventually contributed to ending his career in football administration and politics.
The paper has been strident in its position that FIFA needs to be investigated and was somewhat incredulous in its announcements that Garcia had not asked for copies of the information in their possession. For his part Garcia told the FIFA Congress last week that he had already seen, some time ago, the bulk of the information reported.
This has given rise to an increasingly reported theory that the Sunday Times‘ editorial positioning (not its reporting of the facts) has been encouraged by a Murdoch and corporate anti-Qatar agenda driven by national and media business interests. The might of the Murdoch/Sky empires flexing its dominating muscle against the aggressively fuelled challenge of the al Jazeera/BeIn Sport newcomers.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734844639labto1734844639ofdlr1734844639owedi1734844639sni@n1734844639osloh1734844639cin.l1734844639uap1734844639