By Andrew Warshaw
May 13 – FIFA have admitted that the go-between accused of brokering bribes on behalf of Qatar’s successful 2022 World Cup bid worked for the organisation and was responsible to Mohamed Bin Hammam, Sepp Blatter’s challenger for the Presidency.
Amadou Diallo, a Paris-based official from Equatorial Guinea, was named in allegations published by British Parliamentarians on information received from The Sunday Times as the middle man in the scandal that allegedly saw FIFA Executive Committee members Issa Hayatou and Jacques Anouma receive backhanders for voting for Qatar.
Both men deny the allegations.
It is understood Diallo is currently a member of Bin Hammam’s campaign team in the run-up to the FIFA Presidential election on June 1.
A FIFA spokesman told insideworldfootball that Diallo, who left the organisation in 2007, was paid during his six years there as a “travelling freelance” involved in the GOAL project that provides funds and equipment for developing football in poorer countries.
Bin Hammam, President of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), happens also to be head of the GOAL bureau but it is not known how closely he worked with Diallo when the latter was employed by FIFA.
Bin Hammam said he was certain Diallo has done nothing wrong.
“I will not deny this friendship, he is a close friend of mine, but I am sure that he has done nothing wrong,” he told Press Association.
“I will meet up with him from time to time and he will travel with me here and there, but he is not playing any part in the decisions I take.
“If you know the role he plays you will laugh at these allegations.
“He’s simply a friend of mine and he has nothing to do with Qatar or anyone.”
Yet Diallo’s role remains the subject of intense conjecture.
According to correspondence passed to MPs by The Sunday Times and made public earlier this week, the bribery allegations are partly based on a conversation with former FIFA general secretary Michel Zen Ruffinen who apparently claimed Diallo worked for Qatar “to arrange financial deals” in return for World Cup votes.
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