FIFA, Qatar and Corruption Par Excellence

[David Guyatt]

Is FIFA dirty?

Do dogs bark?

Qatar World Cup 2022 investigation: former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner and family paid millions

Documents appear to show a senior Fifa official and his family were paid millions by a company controlled by a former Qatari football official shortly after the country won its bid for the 2022 World Cup

By Claire Newell, Holly Watt, Claire Duffin, Ben Bryant, Alastair Good (video)

10:00PM GMT 17 Mar 2014


A senior Fifa official and his family were paid almost $2 million (£1.2m) from a Qatari firm linked to the country's successful bid for the 2022 World Cup, The Telegraph can disclose.

Jack Warner, the former vice-president of Fifa, appears to have been personally paid $1.2 million (£720,000) from a company controlled by a former Qatari football official shortly after the decision to award the country the tournament.

Payments totalling almost $750,000 (£450,000) were made to Mr Warner's sons, documents show. A further $400,000 (£240,000) was paid to one of his employees.

It is understood that the FBI is now investigating Trinidad-based Mr Warner and his alleged links to the Qatari bid, and that the former Fifa official's eldest son, who lives in Miami, has been helping the inquiry as a co-operating witness.

The awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar was one of the most controversial decisions in sporting history. The intense summer heat in the desert nation has raised the prospect of the tournament being moved to the winter for the first time.

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Although Qatar has repeatedly denied wrongdoing during the bidding process, it has long been suspected that the decision was flawed, and several members of the Fifa committee have faced corruption allegations.
It can be disclosed that a company owned by Mohamed Bin Hammam, the Fifa executive member for Qatar, appeared to pay $1.2 million (£720,000) to Mr Warner in 2011.
A note from one of Mr Warner's companies, Jamad, to Mr Bin Hammam's firm, Kemco, requested $1.2 million in payment for work carried out between 2005 and 2010.
[SUP]Fifa president Sepp Blatter announces Qatar as the host country for the 2022 World Cup (AFP)[/SUP]
The document is dated December 15, 2010, two weeks after Qatar won the right to host the tournament, and states that the money is "payable to Jack Warner".
Mr Warner's two sons and an employee were paid a further $1 million (£600,000) by the same Qatari company.
One document states that payments are to "offset legal and other expenses", but a separate letter claims that more than $1 million cover "professional services provided over the period 2005-2010".
At least one bank in the Cayman Islands initially refused to process the payment amid fears over the legality of the money transfer. The money was eventually processed via a bank in New York a transaction that is understood to have come to the attention of the FBI. A well-placed source said: "These payments need to be properly investigated. The World Cup is the most important event in football and we need to be confident that decisions have been made for the right reasons. There are lots of questions that still need to be answered."
[SUP]An artist's impression of the Lusail City stadium, designed for the Qatar 2022 World Cup final[/SUP]
Mr Warner was one of the most experienced members of the executive committee until he stood down in 2011 and served as vice-president of the organisation for 14 years. He was one of the 22 people who decided to award Russia the 2018 World Cup and Qatar the 2022 tournament. It is understood that the FBI is investigating payments to Mr Warner and that one of his family members has been acting as a "co-operating witness".
The investigators are thought to be focusing on Mr Warner's American and Grand Cayman accounts.
Michael Garcia, the joint chief investigator of Fifa's ethics committee, is also investigating irregularities surrounding the bidding process. He is expected to deliver his report to the committee later this year.
The disclosures will add to concerns that some Fifa executive committee members were not impartial when they cast their votes in December 2010. England suffered a humiliating defeat when it secured only two votes to host the 2018 World Cup and was eliminated after the first round.
[SUP]Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and Fifa president Sepp Blatter (AFP)[/SUP]
Even before the decision was made, there were persistent allegations of corruption. Six weeks before the vote in Zurich, a World Cup official was caught in an undercover investigation agreeing to sell his vote to one of England's rivals. 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.
A whistleblower also claimed that one of the bidders had bought the votes of three African executive committee members. The former Fifa employee later withdrew the allegations.
Following England's defeat, a parliamentary committee held an inquiry into the failed bid. Lord Triesman, the bid's former chairman, gave evidence stating that four Fifa executive committee members had asked for business deals and favours when negotiating their support. One of those he named was Mr Warner.
[SUP]It is understood that the FBI is now investigating Jack Warner (Getty Images)[/SUP]
The Labour peer said that the then Fifa vice-president had asked for money to build an education centre in Trinidad, with the cash to be channelled through him, and £500,000 to buy World Cup television rights for Haiti.
In June 2011, Mr Warner resigned from all football posts after he was accused of facilitating bribes to members of the Caribbean football union on behalf of Mohamed Bin Hammam, who was standing against Sepp Blatter to be Fifa president. A report by the Fifa ethics committee found that there was "compelling" evidence that Mr Warner was "an accessory to corruption".
Mr Warner was caught on tape apparently urging fellow Fifa officials to accept cash gifts from Mr Bin Hammam, the disgraced former presidential candidate.
The documents seen by The Telegraph raise further questions about Mr Warner's activities. One email, which appears to have been sent by one of Mr Warner's employees, shows that the staff member personally received $412,000 from the Qatari company and that Mr Warner's son, Daryll, was paid $432,000. Daryan, his other son, was paid $316,000 via a company called We Buy Houses.
Regarding the payments to Daryan, the email states that he was "contracted … based on his understanding, contacts and history with the regional players who make up an integral part of the defence team … pursuant to Fifa bribery allegations. As stated in our letter of June 11, 2011, the value of US $316,000, and this is an initial deposit to offset legal and other expenses related to the matter."
In July, a different email shows that "monies in the amount of $1.2 million" were wire transferred to J&D International, another of Mr Warner's companies, by the same Qatari firm. It states that this is to "offset legal and other related expenses associated with regard to an ongoing matter".
Mr Warner and his family declined to comment. A spokesman for Qatar's 2022 World Cup organising committee said: "The 2022 bid committee strictly adhered to Fifa's bidding regulations in compliance with their code of ethics.
"The supreme committee for delivery and legacy and the individuals involved in the 2022 bid committee are unaware of any allegations surrounding business dealings between private individuals."

[David Guyatt]

It's rather like the police investigating the police.

An internal inquiry? That'll do nicely, sir.

Qatar World Cup 2022 investigation: Fifa chief investigator to interview bid committee members

The head of Fifa's ethics committee will fly to Zurich to question 13 members of its executive committee as pressure grows on football's international governing body

HH Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani of Qatar receives the trophy from FIFA President Joseph S Blatter after the announcement that Qatar had won the bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Photo: FIFA/GETTY








By Ben Bryant, Claire Newell, Holly Watt, Ben Rumsby

8:38PM GMT 19 Mar 2014


The officials who awarded Qatar the World Cup are to be forced to justify the decision to a Fifa investigator in the coming weeks following disclosures from the Telegraph.

Michael Garcia, the ethics committee's chief investigator, has flown to Zurich for a series of interviews as pressure grows on Fifa to re-run the bid.

The meetings follow a Telegraph investigation that revealed how Fifa's former vice president and his family were paid almost $2 million (£1.2 million) from a firm linked to Qatar's successful bid.

Details of who the executive committee decide to support are normally kept secret, but the powerful board members are expected to be questioned by Mr Garcia about the bidding process and any breach of bidding rules including collusion between bids.

Mr Garcia, a former US district attorney, is also expected to meet the president of world football's governing body, Sepp Blatter, during his visit.

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The Telegraph disclosed this week that Mr Warner, the former vice-president of Fifa and executive committee member, appears to have been personally paid $1.2 million (£720,000) from a company controlled by a former Qatari football official, Mohamed Bin Hammam, shortly after the decision to award the country the tournament.
Payments totalling almost $750,000 were made to Mr Warner's sons, documents show. A further $400,000 was paid to one of his employees.

Following the revelations, senior MPs called for an inquiry into the controversial decision to award Qatar the 2022 tournament.
Last September, Mr Garcia said his investigators would interview representatives of every bid team, and a number of officials who worked on England's unsuccessful 2018 bid have already been questioned.
Just 13 of the 22 members who took part in the December 2010 vote are still on the committee, while the others have either retired, been banned or resigned while under investigation.
The news about Mr Garcia's visit comes at the same time as the former chairman of England's World Cup bid labels Fifa "corrupt", and claims emerge that the former Emir of Qatar supported a terrorist organisation.
Lord Triesman, the former FA chairman, said that the Fifa executive is "incapable of taking the steps they should" and that the culture "is deep in corruption and has been for decades".
In October 2012, following the first official visit to the Gaza Strip by a head of state, the Emir of Qatar pledged $400 million (£240 million) in aid to the Hamas rulers. Many regard Hamas as a terrorist organisation, which refuses to recognise Israel.
Mr Warner, currently a politician in Trinidad, commented on the Telegraph's revelations yesterday. He said: "I have no interest in joining in the foolishness that is now passing as news on Qatar and Jack Warner.
"Nor do I intend to join those who are on a witch hunt against the World Cup 2022 venue. And do consider this as my final comment on this matter."
A spokesman for Qatar's 2022 World Cup organising committee said: "The 2022 bid committee strictly adhered to Fifa's bidding regulations in compliance with their code of ethics.
"The supreme committee for delivery and legacy and the individuals involved in the 2022 bid committee are unaware of any allegations surrounding business dealings between private individuals."
Mr Bin Hammam declined to comment.

[David Guyatt]

Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, is said to have played no role in the plan to stop the investigation

::::

Fifa investigation into corruption came 'within hours' of being sabotaged, according to reform-minded members

World governing body faces further embarrassment after internal plot to sabotage investigation into corruption is revealed


Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, is said to have played no role in the plan to stop the investigation Photo: REUTERS



By Ben Rumsby

2:06PM GMT 25 Mar 2014

The investigation into allegations of corruption over the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups came within hours of being sabotaged from within Fifa, it has emerged.

In the week The Telegraph revealed the first concrete evidence of payments made between two of the governing body's vice-presidents following the 2010 vote, a number of senior power-brokers openly discussed overthrowing its chief investigator and scrapping its independent ethics committee.

The plot was foiled last week before it could be debated by Fifa's executive committee, some members of which would have considered resigning had the investigation, led by New York lawyer Michael Garcia, been stopped in its tracks.

Those reform-minded members confirmed they had been approached in the corridors between sessions of a two-day meeting in Zurich on Thursday and Friday.

That meeting coincided with a visit by Garcia, the head of the investigatory chamber of Fifa's ethics committee, to interview all 13 surviving members of the executive committee from December 2010 about the vote and also allegations of corruption during Fifa's 2011 presidential elections.

They included president Sepp Blatter, who was said to have played no role in the plan to stop what he has widely acclaimed as Fifa's new "transparent" reform process.
Uefa president Michel Platini, who was also spoken to by Garcia, is thought to have been made aware of the attempted coup indirectly.
The Frenchman, who has openly admitted voting for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup, told The Telegraph on Tuesday: "I condemn any possible attempt to derail the investigation. I want it to go to the very end."
Fifa's British vice-president Jim Boyce, who joined the governing body after the 2010 vote, said he would have considered his position had the Garcia investigation been thwarted.
He said: "There was a bit of informal chat about the possibility that some people wanted to see Garcia removed from the inquiry and that it might be raised at the ExCo meeting but it wasn't.
"As someone who has been brought up with honesty and integrity and it was a great honour for me to be asked to be a vice-president if this had been proposed at the ExCo meeting or I thought for one moment Garcia would be removed in any fashion from carrying out his full investigation, I and others would be aghast and would have had to consider our positions because things at Fifa have been improving greatly."
Fellow executive committee member Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein added: "I am very happy that Michael Garcia will continue in his work. There were some questions raised about the necessity of having an Independent Ethics Committee but, to be honest, I think that idea was stopped.
"There were certain people like myself who could not accept that this could happen.
"He was supported by our Congress and given a mandate and I am very happy he will continue with his work."
Another senior Fifa source told The Telegraph that stopping the Garcia investigation would have been "the biggest own-goal Fifa have ever done".
Fifa did not respond to requests for a statement, while a spokesperson for Garcia issued a "no comment" reply to a request to establish if he was aware of the plans to end his role.
He was appointed in June 2012 as part of a reform process instigated a year earlier in the wake of a host of corruption scandals to engulf Fifa.
The former attorney for the Southern District of New York was empowered by Congress to "leave no stone unturned" in his quest to discover if there had been any wrongdoing regarding the voting procedures in the World Cup bidding process.
The Telegraph last week revealed the existence of documents indicatingmoney had changed hands between disgraced former Fifa vice-presidents Jack Warner and Mohammed Bin Hammam shortly after that vote.
Garcia is understood to be interested in acquiring the same evidence.

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