Amid renewed calls for FIFA to overturn the controversial decision to hand the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, new research by the Mail yesterday has shown just how much the oil-rich Middle East state spent on deals — including legitimate trade deals — in the course of lobbying in the run-up to the 2010 vote.
Qatar won the final round of voting 14-8 against the USA in the executive committee ballot. The MoS analysis suggests that Qatar spent an astonishing £17.2 billion directly and indirectly on the way to victory.
Much of this outlay was on goods and services for Qatar — including aerospace orders, a football club, sponsorship agreements, land and general exposure. The details are in the accompanying panel.
There were also millions of pounds of cash payments made to a huge range of football officials from secret slush funds controlled by Qatar’s executive committee member Mohammed bin Hammam.
These payments and swathes of new detail about how Bin Hammam won the right for Qatar to host the event are detailed in a book published last week, The Ugly Game, by investigative journalists Heidi Blake and Jonathan Calvert.
Former FIFA head of security Chris Eaton has called for any new evidence to be considered by FIFA — even though he now works for Qatar. And a high-level group of European politicians — the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe — has approved a resolution calling on FIFA to re-run the ‘illegal’ bidding process.
Qatar is the world’s richest country in per capita income and even the £17.2bn is minor compared to the $200bn (£132bn) budgeted for World Cup facilities and supporting infrastructure.
WHERE ALL THE MONEY WENT…
Voter: Michel Platini (France) – £14.72bn
Spent on: Orders for airliners from France-based Airbus; buying PSG; setting up beIN SPORTS; and buying Ligue 1 TV rights, following a November 2010 meeting attended by Qatar’s Sheik Tamin, French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Platini, who admits voting for Qatar and says he was encouraged but not forced to do so.
Nicolas Leoz (Paraguay) – £1.33bn
Spent on: Energy infrastructure deal agreed between Sheik Hamad of Qatar and Paraguay’s president Fernando Lugo on August 18, 2010 after Qatar’s FIFA executive voter Mohamed bin Hammam’s planned trip to lobby Leoz was replaced with governmental trip.
Worawi Makudi (Thailand) – £1.23bn
Spent on: Gas deal arising from meeting, arranged by Bin Hammam, between key aides to Makudi at the Thai FA and Qatar’s most senior energy official on August 16, 2010 in Doha.
Angel Maria Villar Llona (Spain) – £150m
Spent on: Sponsorship of Barcelona by Qatar Airways was one deal brokered via Spain’s voting pact with Qatar, which later became an open secret, even acknowledged by FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
Various African and struck-off officials – £99m
Spent on: Bid budget and miscellaneous expenses. This included cash spent on buying exclusive access to influence Confederation of African Football voters ($1.8m); meetings to offer $1m to the son of struck-off voter Adams Adamu for staging a dinner; and costs defending another struck-offer voter, Reynald Temarii of Oceania.
Julio Grondona (Argentina) – £59m
Spent on: Allegedly spent clearing the debts of Argentina FA; and unconfirmed sums paid by Qatar firm to sponsor November 2010 Argentina-Brazil friendly in Doha.
Marios Lefkaritis (Cyprus) – £27m
Spent on: Piece of land owned by Lefkaritis in Nicosia by Qatar investment firm. Lefkaritis does not deny the deal but denies any wrongdoing
Ricardo Teixeira (Brazil) – £6.7m
Spent on: Sponsoring Brazil friendlies including against Argentina in Qatar in 2010 by Qatari interests.
Various officials – £4.8m
Spent on: Alleged cash bungs by Bin Hammam from 10 slush funds to a range of football officials from across Africa ($5m) and Asia ($1.7m) among others.
Issa Hayatou (Cameroon) & Jacques Anouma (Ivory Costa) – £1m each
Spent on: Alleged in Parliament that they were given grants for no-strings ‘development’ funding.
Jack Warner (Trinidad &Tobago) – £933,000
Spent on: Two cash lumps allegedly linked to Warner’s support, and then his silence, over corruption.
Other voters for Qatar included Chung Mong-joon of South Korea, whom Bin Hammam later helped secure honorary FIFA vice-presidency, and Junji Ogura of Japan, seen as squeaky clean, who voted for Qatar after Japan dropped out. Bin Hammam voted for Qatar and the 14th vote is understood to have come from either Senes Erzik of Turkey, whose PM is a close friend of the Qatar royals, or Hany Abo Rida of Egypt, paid to join Bin Hammam on campaigning trips.
Source: Ghanaian Times
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