I lied, claims Qatar 2022 whistleblower

By Andrew Warshaw

July 10 – Qatar officials confirmed today that they had received an official apology from the so-called whistleblower who appears to have duped the world’s media and caused an international outcry over the credibility of the Gulf state’s 2022 World Cup campaign.

The whistleblower, who insideworldfootball has known for over six months and has even met face-to-face but whose identity we have always agreed to protect, can now be named as Phaedra Almajid, an Arab-American who was employed by the Qatar bid between May 2009 and March 2010 but is now living in the United States.

Following Qatar’s landslide 2022 World Cup victory despite having little or no football pedigree, it was Almajid’s unsubstantiated claims about bribery and corruption which in part prompted a wave of speculation about whether the country had acted legitimately.

Her allegations even went as far as the British Parliament and were included, under parliamentary privilege, in a written submission to the Select Committee on Football Governance.

She now admits, however, that her claims that bribes were offered to FIFA executive committee members Issa Hayatou, the African Football Confederation president, Jacques Anouma and Amos Adamu were pure invention, even though Adamu has been suspended by FIFA on vote-rigging charges following newspaper accusations.

In a letter to Hayatou, Anouma and Adamu as well as the Qatar World Cup bid team and FIFA, Almajid offers a full and formal apology to what she describes as “fabricated allegations”.

“I believe it is of absolute importance to submit a completely accurate picture of my activities as the so-called “Qatar Whistleblower”, she wrote.

“I have lied about all facts concerning the behaviour and practice of the Qatar 2022 Bid.

“Never, at any time, were any bribes even offered, suggested or paid on behalf of the Qatar 2022 Bid during any time in exchange for votes from Issa Hayatou, Jacques Anouma, and Amos Adamu.

“These allegations were in full a fabrication on my behalf.

“In addition, a research paper entitled Argentinian Football Crisis which I released to the media had been altered, by myself, to sensationalise the effect.

“In reality, I had requested outside consultants to Qatar 2022 to research the known financial issues concerning the Argentinian football federation.

“To this document I added, before leaking it to the media, sentences stating: ‘Al Jazeera Sports to contact AFA about broadcasting rights in Argentina. Can Al Jazeera Sports help? … QFA to investigate further’.

“I believe that the media did in fact know that I was lying and that certain facts, up to now, have been omitted, downplayed, glossed over and/or mischaracterised in an effort to maximise institutional embarrassment to both the Qatar 2022 Bid Committee and members of FIFA’s Executive Committee and/or perhaps even for improper political reasons.”

“Never at any time did I wish, nor did I foresee, the extent in which these lies would be projected by the international media – even to the extent that they were presented to the United Kingdom’s Parliamentary Select Committee Inquiry into Football Governance.”

“I am very sorry for any and all embarrassment caused to the various individuals and authorities concerned.

“I was very proud to work on behalf of the Qatar 2022 Bid Committee and have no doubt that the country will stage an outstanding, ground-breaking and highly successful World Cup.”

Quite why Almajid, whose apology has been accompanied by a sworn affidavit, and which Qatari officials confirmed to insideworldfootball they had received, has come clean at this point is unclear.

She insisted in her statement that she had “not been subject to any form of pressure or been offered any financial inducement to do so”.

Yet questions remain about what prompted her apparent crisis of conscience especially with Mohamed Bin Hammam, head of Asian football and Qatar’s most powerful football administrator, soon to learn his fate over unconnected claims that he tried to buy the votes of 25 Caribbean FIFA members at the time he was challenging Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency.

Bin Hammam is currently suspended pending a full hearing by FIFA’s ethics committee later this month.

The Qatar authorities have long vehemently denied any wrongdoing in their World Cup bid process and will doubtless feel vindicated by Almajid’s retraction.

Although Almajid, who was employed as a media specialist, privately cited strong grievances against her employers including claims that she was asked to leave the country, insideworldfootball understands that she was offered alternative employment within the bid team but chose to leave of her own free will.

It is also understood she was involved in awkward personal circumstances concerning her children.

In an interview with Sports Features Communications, Almajid said: “I did something very wrong and I have to do everything I can to put the record straight.

Almajid, who also spells her name Al Majid according to some organisations, told the BBC she was simply upset after leaving “and wanted to basically hurt the bid back”.

“My intentions were to make a few headlines, I never expected that my lies would be carried on and discussed in parliament.

“It just went too far.

“I never expected it to come to this point.

“There was never anything suspicious or any wrongdoing on Qatar’s part.

“I cannot tell you how sorry I am.

“I have hurt reputations of three members of the FIFA exco, I have hurt their reputation, and more importantly I have hurt my colleagues on the Qatar bid.

“I have to clear my conscience and cannot live with these lies anymore and I am very sorry to everyone I hurt, especially all my colleagues at the Qatar Bid.”

In recent weeks, Almajid’s credibility has been increasingly open to scrutiny when she refused to travel to Zurich to talk to FIFA.

At the same time, she cut off all contact with this correspondent, referring him to a London-based lawyer having previously been keen to discuss her time working for the Qatar bid team.

Her apparently unacceptable demands for witness protection prevented any chance of an official inquiry by FIFA into bribery claims against Qatar.

“The whistleblower asked for conditions that could not possibly be accepted by FIFA,” football’s governing body said in a statement at the time.

“Among others, the problems were that the whistleblower gave no warranty for the accuracy and correctness of the information he/she was providing, asked for the right to destroy the information at any time and that the information he/she provided not be made public.”

FIFA also was asked to “cover the costs to indemnify the whistleblower for any breaches of contract he/she would be sued for, for any liabilities and for any potential criminal proceedings related to the agreement, as well as for an unlimited witness protection program.”

Qatari officials at the time once again refuted all her allegations and suggested the whistleblower was simply “an embittered ex-employee”.

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