Qatar DID buy the World Cup, claims Fifa chief as new corruption claims emerge

[mc_squared]

Qatar DID buy the World Cup, claims Fifa chief as new corruption claims emerge

 

 

By Rob Cooper

 

Last updated at 2:14 PM on 30th May 2011

 

 

 

• President Sepp Blatter 'to be re-elected unopposed'
  
• Governing body branded 'rotten to the core'
  
• Fifa will face fresh calls to re-run 2022 vote
  
• Mohammed Bin Hammam and Jack Warner suspended as they face corruption probe
  

Qatar did buy the right to host the 2022 World Cup, a damning leaked e-mail claimed today.

 

Banned Fifa vice-president Jack Warner leaked an e-mail which claimed Mohamed Bin Hammam did a deal so that the Gulf state could host the tournament.

The revelations will lead to fresh calls for the 2022 vote to be re-run following the new corruption allegations.

Sepp Blatter (right) will now run unopposed in the FIFA presidential election on Wednesday after Mohamed Bin Hammam (left) withdrew from the race and was suspended yesterday

 

Questions have long been asked how such a small country where temperatures hit 50C could win the right to host the tournament.

Yesterday Fifa president Sepp Blatter was cleared over bribery accusations as Warner and Bin Hammam were suspended.

The e-mail was sent by Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke - who today confirmed that the contents were genuine.

 

Valcke, according to a statement from Jack Warner statement, sent an email to him about Mohamed Bin Hammam 'buying' the 2022 World Cup for his country.

 

Bin Hammam was then standing against Sepp Blatter for president.

 

According to Warner, the email read: 'For MBH, I never understood why he was running.

 

'If really he thought he had a chance or just being an extreme way to express how much he does not like anymore JSB [blatter]. Or he thought you can buy Fifa as they bought the WC.'

 

Valcke, speaking in Zurich today, confirmed that he had sent the message.

 

He said: 'It was a private email and we will discuss it. He sent me an email asking if I want that [bin Hammam to run], he said that I should ask Bin Hammam to pull out.'

 

Valcke said Warner had only published selected parts of the email, and he denied claims by Warner and Bin Hammam that he had influenced the ethics committee against them.

 

He added: 'The first time I met the chairman of the ethics committee was yesterday at 5 o'clock before we went to the press conference. I had no contact at all with anyone.'

Critics said the decision yesterday to exonerate Sepp Blatter may be seen as a ‘stitch-up’ at an organisation that was ‘rife with corruption’.

Mr Blatter, 75, the Fifa president, had been accused of turning a blind eye to senior officials offering inducements to Caribbean delegates but was cleared of all charges.

With Qatari official Mohamed Bin Hammam, 62, suspended the decision to exonerate Mr Blatter clears the way for him to be re-elected unopposed to a fourth term on Wednesday, despite the gravest corruption crisis in Fifa’s history.

Fifa’s ethics committee opened an investigation last week after Mr Bin Hammam and Mr Warner were accused of offering £24,000 in cash to officials in the Caribbean on condition they voted for Mr Bin Hammam for the top job in world soccer.

Jack Warner (left) Mohamed bin Hammam (right) have been suspended from football governing body FIFA amid accusations of bribery

 

DRAMATIC FALL FROM GRACE FOR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

 

Six months ago, Mohamed Bin Hammam seemed destined to rule over football, the land of milk and money. Now he is readying himself for a full inquiry into

bribery allegations.

 

Bin Hammam was riding the crest of a wave when he launched his bid to become FIFA president, fresh from delivering the 2022 World Cup to his country Qatar in a stunning victory.

 

Qatar 2022 had trounced their opponents in the vote - and so confident were their bid leaders that they announced the outcome to Al Jazeera television a full hour before FIFA president Sepp Blatter opened the envelope.

In January, a month after the World Cup vote, Bin Hammam was re-elected unopposed as president of the Asian confederation and the rumours gathered

strength that he would mount a challenge to Blatter.

 

But almost from the moment that Bin Hammam confirmed at the end of March that he would run for president, his campaign began to unravel.

 

Within two days of the launch of his manifesto, Bin Hammam travelled to Paris aiming to woo European associations at the annual UEFA Congress, and even talking about doing a deal with Michel Platini.

 

But as these new allegations emerged, the candidate reacted with fury, alleging this was a conspiracy to stop him running for presidency.

 

Less than 12 hours before he was due to give evidence to the ethics committee, the grim reality facing him became impossible to ignore and he announced his withdrawal from the election.

 

Rather than clearing him, the committee stated they were 'satisfied there is a case to answer' and suspended him from all football activity - along with Warner - pending a full inquiry.

 

For such a powerful figure to so suddenly find himself in this situation is unprecedented within FIFA.

 

 

Mr Bin Hammam, in turn, claimed Mr Blatter knew of the allegations about bribes being offered and failed to report them to the ethics committee.

But Petrus Damaseb, deputy chairman of the committee, said of the allegations against Mr Blatter: ‘The committee took the view that the obligation to report did not arise because at that stage no wrongdoing had occurred.’

The committee, meeting at Fifa’s headquarters in Zurich, said it was satisfied there was a case for Mr Bin Hammam and Mr Warner to answer, but stressed they were regarded as innocent until proven guilty. If found guilty, they could be expelled from Fifa and banned from all football activity.

 

Chuck Blazer, the Concacaf secretary-general, said there was 'much more evidence' to come and claimed that the suspended duo had been attempting to bribe voters from the very beginning, The Times reported.

 

Early yesterday, before the decision, Mr Bin Hammam had announced his withdrawal as a candidate for the presidency.

On a day of high drama there were calls for a new vote on where the 2022 World Cup is hosted - because the Mr Bin Hamman was instrumental in securing the tournament for them.

Two other Caribbean officials were also suspended by the ethics committee. Last night Mark Palios, former head of the Football Association, said: ‘Whatever the outcome I think the image problem is there. It may appear as some kind of stitch-up.

‘He [blatter] should put change at the heart of the agenda and if he is really serious about zero tolerance, if this was an organisation with accountability, and this type of thing had been happening, he would go anyway.

‘I speculate of course, but on past performance you could see him carrying on and possibly try to be seen as the man who fixed Fifa.’

 

John Whittingdale, Tory chairman of the Commons culture, media and sport committee, said: ‘It is almost beyond farce. Fifa looks rotten to the core now – with one candidate suspended and the other sailing towards a coronation as if nothing had happened.

‘I don’t think we can go on any longer like this. European nations need to get together and make clear that this situation cannot continue.’

Petrus Damaseb, deputy chairman of the FIFA ethics committee, speaks during a press conference yesterday following the suspension of Mohamed bin Hammam and Jack Warner

 

Mr Blatter will be re-elected unopposed on Wednesday unless three-quarters of the 208 voters go against him.

Meanwhile, Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke said a report commissioned by the Football Association into former FA chairman Lord Triesman’s allegations of impropriety by four Fifa members, including Mr Warner, had found no meaningful evidence to back up the claims.

Lord Triesman had said the four asked for cash or favours to support England’s 2018 World Cup bid, but Mr Valcke said: ‘They are completely clean.’

Today an Australian senator has urged the federal government to ask Fifa to refund the $46million (£30m) spent on their failed bid to host the 2022 tournament.

He claimed the bid could not succeed because of corruption within football's world governing body.

 

 

 

 

 

[mc_squared]

So after all the rumours and accusations, now this really is a scandal!:stunned:

 

To be honest, there really was far too much smoke around for their not to have been a fire............... :rolleyes:

[Reilly]

The only surprise is that it's coming out.

[mc_squared]

Let's be thankful it has.;)

[Josh42]

My dream is that there will be a re-vote in which Qatar loses, but nothing will ever come of this, unfortunately.

[busybeeburns]

Just listening to Bladder live on telly now, that guy is a total baffoon.

[Guest howyousawtheworld]

Just listening to Bladder live on telly now, that guy is a total baffoon.

 

Just caught the end of it. He looked like the blithering, incompetent, corrupt moron he is. A total shambles and embarassment.

[mc_squared]

Thiefa rules!:dozey:

[Black Rose]

Give it to the Aussies, they know how to host a good world cup

[Reilly]

Blatter was a joke earlier.

 

Is anyone buying the excuse that the leaked e-mail didn't literally mean he was saying Qatar bought votes? After re-thinking it, doesn't sound that bad, Qatar put a lot of money into their campaign, for example you can say Chelsea bought the Premier League trophy, that doesn't literally mean they bribed for it.

[mc_squared]

Blatter was a joke earlier.

 

Is anyone buying the excuse that the leaked e-mail didn't literally mean he was saying Qatar bought votes? After re-thinking it, doesn't sound that bad, Qatar put a lot of money into their campaign, for example you can say Chelsea bought the Premier League trophy, that doesn't literally mean they bribed for it.

 

Chelski don't rely on votes to win the title, though.:dozey:

[deaths_friend]

Give it to the Aussies, they know how to host a good world cup

 

we only got 1 vote the first time around. whereas i think the americans got 8. so our chances even a second time around would be very slight.

 

but hey if it gets to 2020 or 2021 and they realise that Qatar can't do it and the americans dont want it. we'll be more than happy to do it for them cos our stadiums are ALREADY BUILT!

[mc_squared]

Does this envelope stuffed full of dollars prove Qatar tried to buy presidency? New claims in Fifa bribery scandal

 

 

 

By Colin Fernandez

 

Last updated at 12:20 AM on 31st May 2011

 

 

 

• Comments (0)
  
• Add to My Stories
  
• Share
  

 

International football is facing its most damaging corruption scandal after pictures emerged of an envelope full of cash allegedly used to influence Fifa’s presidential election.

Officials from 25 Caribbean associations were said to have each been offered a $40,000 (£24,000) bribe three weeks ago to vote for Mohamed Bin Hammam from Qatar.

At the same time, an email was revealed in which a leading Fifa official hinted that Qatar had ‘bought’ the right to stage the 2022 World Cup.

 

Handed back: The cash which fell out of an envelope marked 'Bahamas'

 

If the allegations are proven it raises the possibility that the Arab emirate could lose the right to host the competition and there would have to be a ‘re-vote’.

Fifa’s president Sepp Blatter, 75, conceded at a news conference that the organisation’s image had suffered ‘great damage’ but refused to step down and added: ‘We are not in a crisis. We are only in some difficulties which will be solved within our family.’

Blatter will now stand unopposed at the presidential election tomorrow – which critics say should be postponed.

His only challenger, Bin Hammam, withdrew his candidacy hours before he was suspended by Fifa’s ethics committee over the bribery allegations along with another executive committee member, Jack Warner of Trinidad, and two other Caribbean officials.

 

 

The pictures of $40,000 in cash were taken by Fred Lunn, vice-president of the Bahamas FA, who attended a special meeting with other members of the Caribbean Football Union on May 10 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Trinidad.

According to his affidavit, the 25 football associations had been asked to attend a conference room to pick up a ‘gift’.

He said he was handed a large brown envelope. When he opened it ‘stacks of $100 bills fell out on to the table. I was stunned to see this cash’.

 

Uncontested: Fifa President Sepp Blatter will stand unopposed at tomorrow's election for his role

 

 

 

 

Fifa: Mohamed Bin Hammam (left) and Jack Warner (right)

 

Lunn said he was not authorised to accept such a gift but was urged to do so by a CFU official.

 

He texted his association’s president Anton Sealey to say that several representatives had accepted the cash.

 

Sealey called him and said that ‘under no circumstances would the Bahamas FA take such a cash gift’ and he should return it.

 

Lunn took a picture of the money before he replaced it in the envelope and returned to the conference room to hand it back.

The email which apparently suggested Qatar had bought the World Cup was sent to Jack Warner by Fifa’s secretary-general Jerome Valcke, a Frenchman.

The message, made public by Warner yesterday, alluded to Bin Hammam’s bid for the Fifa presidency and referred to him by his initials.

'When I refer to the 2022 Fifa World Cup in that email, what I wanted to say is that the winning bid used their financial strength to lobby for support'

 

 

According to Warner, the email said: ‘For MBH, I never understood why he was running.

‘If really he thought he had a chance or just being an extreme way to express how much he does not like anymore JSB [Joseph Sepp Blatter]. Or he thought you can buy Fifa as they bought the WC [World Cup].

’Valcke confirmed he sent the email to Warner but said he had not meant to suggest ‘unethical’ behaviour.

‘When I refer to the 2022 Fifa World Cup in that email, what I wanted to say is that the winning bid used their financial strength to lobby for support.’

Qatar’s winning bid, announced in December, was hugely controversial. Temperatures there reach 50c (122f) in summer when the tournament will be staged.

The organisers plan to get round this by using solar-powered air conditioning at the stadiums.

They denied that they ‘bought’ the right to stage the tournament and said they were ‘taking legal advice to consider our options’.

At yesterday’s news conference, Sepp Blatter ruled out action against four Fifa executive committee members accused during a British parliamentary hearing this month of corruption relating to England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

Fifa had received a report from Lord Triesman of the FA concerning the allegations against Jack Warner, Ricardo Teixeira of Brazil, Nicolas Leoz of Paraguay and Worawi Makudi of Thailand. But it decided there was no case to answer.

Labour MP Tom Watson suggested that the FA should now try to recoup the costs of its failed bid, while Tory MP Therese Coffey called for tomorrow’s Fifa presidential election to be suspended while corruption claims are investigated.

The reek of bribery swirling around Fifa’s Zurich HQ was condemned yesterday by two of international football’s biggest sponsors.

 

Ominously for Blatter and his supporters, Coca-Cola and Adidas warned that the allegations were damaging the sport ‘and its partners’.

scandal.html#ixzz1Nt3PGSZS

[deaths_friend]

can't believe nobody is opposing Blatter. this would have to be easiest election to win in human history. you could put Colonel Gadaffi against him and i'm most half decent people would vote in Gadaffi.

[mc_squared]

can't believe nobody is opposing Blatter. this would have to be easiest election to win in human history. you could put Colonel Gadaffi against him and i'm most half decent people would vote in Gadaffi.

 

Even Gordon Brown?:rolleyes:

[Texasluvsjonny]

Blatter:" FIFA not in crisis, corruption allegations within his organisation are merely "difficulties". Crisis would be if their bribe money was accidentally wired to the wrong account. :dozey:

[Cobalt]

Why do they not just kick Blatter the hell out

 

geez he's already shat all over their reputation carpet and then sat on it, skirting his ass along it like a dog with an itchy bum just so he can rub the shit in

[mc_squared]

Why do they not just kick Blatter the hell out

 

geez he's already shat all over their reputation carpet and then sat on it, skirting his ass along it like a dog with an itchy bum just so he can rub the shit in

 

It would be a bit like the North Koreans trying to overthrow Kim Jong Il.:dozey:

[Guest howyousawtheworld]

we only got 1 vote the first time around. whereas i think the americans got 8. so our chances even a second time around would be very slight.

 

but hey if it gets to 2020 or 2021 and they realise that Qatar can't do it and the americans dont want it. we'll be more than happy to do it for them cos our stadiums are ALREADY BUILT!

 

I would totally go to a World Cup in Australia! The Olympics and Rugby World Cup when in Australia looked immense. They even host the Ashes better than England...but they don't play the Ashes as well as England! :D

 

But seriously I've said time and again that Australia would make great hosts but we might have to wait years even decades even.

 

But Qatar? I hope for a massive boycott of that already scam tournament. What an awful state football is in because of those corrupt bastards at FIFA

[mc_squared]

I would totally go to a World Cup in Australia! The Olympics and Rugby World Cup when in Australia looked immense. They even host the Ashes better than England...but they don't play the Ashes as well as England! :D

 

But seriously I've said time and again that Australia would make great hosts but we might have to wait years even decades even.

 

But Qatar? I hope for a massive boycott of that already scam tournament. What an awful state football is in because of those corrupt bastards at FIFA

 

I totally agree. I'd give it to Aus over Qatar any day.:cool:

[Reilly]

The English (Followed by Scottish) FA's make a stand against Blatter, less then 20 hours before voting time, how pointless is that?

 

I suppose you can give them more credit then the other nations, but the only thing they've achieved is future injustices against their organisations, should've been done many days ago if they were going to do it at all.

[mc_squared]

The English (Followed by Scottish) FA's make a stand against Blatter, less then 20 hours before voting time, how pointless is that?

 

I suppose you can give them more credit then the other nations, but the only thing they've achieved is future injustices against their organisations, should've been done many days ago if they were going to do it at all.

 

I agree. Barn doors and horses spring to mind.:dozey:

[mc_squared]

Humiliation for English FA as the winner is Sepp Blatter, the only name on Fifa's ballot paper

 

 

 

By Sam Greenhill

 

Last updated at 12:30 AM on 2nd June 2011

 

 

 

With only a solitary name on the ballot paper, it was the kind of election that would do a banana republic proud.

And to the surprise of no one, Sepp Blatter triumphantly regained the crown of world football last night in a humiliating snub to England and Prince William.

Their attempt to derail Blatter’s re-election was overwhelmingly slapped down despite the corruption claims swirling around him.

Re-elected: Sepp Blatter rises his arms in celebration after the vote confirmed he will be Fifa's president for another four years

 

 

Hugs: Blatter is congratulated following the result by his daughter Corinne and granddaughter Selena

 

Delegates at Fifa’s congress in Zurich were presented with a blue ballot paper bearing only Blatter’s name for president.

 

Yet they still took two hours to elect him winner of the one-horse race.

England’s misery was complete when Blatter’s victory was officially declared by Argentina’s delegate to the congress of world football’s governing body.

 

Earlier, he had branded England ‘pirates’ and revealed how he had told the team bidding to get England to host the 2018 World Cup that he would only support their bid if the Falkland Islands were handed to Argentina.

 

All smiles: Blatter smirks after his victory

 

Julio Grondona told delegates: ‘We always have attacks from England which are mostly lies with the support of journalism which is more busy lying than telling the truth. This upsets the Fifa family.’

Of the 206 football associations who took part in the ballot, 186 voted for Blatter, with three papers spoiled and 17 associations abstaining.

Congratulations: A member of the congress shakes hands with Mr Blatter following his re-election to the post

 

 

One horse race: An usher shows off the ballot paper for the election - which only had Mr Blatter's name on it

 

Clutching a bouquet, the rotund 75-year-old Swiss took to the stage to accept the result and told the congress: ‘I thank you for your trust and confidence. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

‘Together we will have four years, provided the Lord gives me life, the energy and the force to continue on our path and to do our job.’

A good read: Mr Blatter holds a copy of Fifa's Code of Ethics

 

Blatter likened himself to a ship’s captain ‘weathering the storm’ and admitted: ‘We have made mistakes and we will learn from this.

 

'We are going to put Fifa’s ship back on the right course, in clear, transparent waters.’

The ballot went ahead after England lost a principled attempt to have the election postponed.

Football Association chairman David Bernstein – with backing from FA president Prince William and David Cameron – had called on the congress to abort the vote until a corruption-free candidate could be found.

Speaking from the heart: Mr Blatter delivering a speech during the Fifa congress

 

But the world’s football associations overwhelmingly rejected the FA’s proposal by 178 votes to 17, with even Wales and Northern Ireland snubbing it, though the Scottish FA gave its support.

 

The humiliation continued with the leaders of associations from Haiti, the Congo, Benin, Fiji and Cyprus all speaking out against England’s ‘lies’.

In a speech before his coronation, Blatter piled insult on injury to England’s failed bid last year to host the World Cup by belatedly vowing, if elected, to fix the corrupt voting system over which he has presided.

 

But his promise to reform comes too late for England, which lost out to Russia on hosting the 2018 tournament.

England’s bid team – headed by Prince William, the Prime Minister and football star David Beckham – was humiliated last December by winning only two votes amid suspicions that other nations may have been willing to engage in bribery.

The prince remains ‘bitterly disappointed’ by the rejection and last night Mr Cameron backed him by joining calls for reform.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: ‘The most important thing in all of this is that the public have confidence in Fifa and, in order for that to happen, we need Fifa to reform. Fifa needs to get its house in order.’

Blatter declared that in future, World Cup host countries would be chosen differently.

 

The overhaul would mean that instead of a vote of 24 executive members – nine of whom are presently mired in corruption claims – there would be a ballot of the 208 football associations.

At the World Cup vote: Prince William with David Beckham and David Cameron. He backed calls for Fifa to postpone the election

 

Earlier this week it was alleged that 25 Caribbean officials were each offered a $40,000 (£24,000) bribe three weeks ago to vote for Mohamed Bin Hammam from Qatar in Fifa’s presidential election.

Bin Hammam, Blatter’s only challenger, withdrew his candidacy hours before he was suspended by Fifa’s ethics committee over the bribery allegations along with another executive committee member, Jack Warner of Trinidad, and two other Caribbean officials.

Handed back: The cash which fell out of an envelope marked 'Bahamas'

 

At the same time, an email was revealed in which Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke hinted that Qatar had ‘bought’ the right to stage the 2022 World Cup.

The bungs scandal has damaged trust in the World Cup, but Blatter only responded when big-money sponsors Coca Cola, Adidas and Visa voiced ‘distress’ at the claims.

Last night, FA chief Mr Bernstein said: ‘While we did not succeed in deferring the Fifa presidential election, we are confident the FA has played a significant role as a catalyst for change in the way World Cup hosts will be selected in the future.’

 

 

Fifa; Mohamed Bin Hammam (left) and Jack Warner (right) have both been suspended after the bribery claims emerged

 

Enlarge