Strip Qatar of hosting World Cup if bribes were paid, urge MPS

‘Since 2010 there has been mounting evidence that the whole thing was riddled with corruption’

Edward Malnick, Luke Heighton

Claire Newell

QATAR could still be stripped of the 2022 World Cup if investigators found that the Gulf state was awarded the tournament as a result of “improper payments”, senior MPS warned last night.

John Whittingdale, the former culture secretary, said there was “mounting evidence” that the Qatari campaign was “riddled with corruption”.

The tournament “is not for another five years” and there would be a “very strong case” for re-running the competition if authorities concluded that the decision to award the tournament to Qatar was “not on merit”, he added.

Damien Collins, the Conservative chairman of the Commons culture, media and sport committee, said “there is absolutely no question that Qatar should lose the right to host the World Cup” if it was proved that bribes were paid in return for votes.

The warnings came after The Telegraph disclosed how French investigators were examining whether Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French president, received funds from transactions negotiated around the time of the 2022 bid, including from the sale of Paris Saintgermain football club to Qatar. France emerged as one of the key backers for the Qatari bid and Sepp Blatter, the former head of Fifa, has claimed that Mr Sarkozy was a key figure in ensuring the plan was supported by France and other European nations whose representatives took part in the 2010 vote.

Qatar is facing a series of international criminal inquiries into its successful World Cup bid amid claims that huge bribes were paid.

The tiny Gulf state, where summer temperatures reach 104F (40C), was awarded the 2022 tournament as a result of a vote of Fifa executive committee members in 2010, when Russia also won the campaign to host the 2018 tournament.

Mr Whittingdale, who was culture secretary under David Cameron, said: “There was always a great deal of surprise that anybody thought Qatar was suitable in the first place.

“We’ve known that things were fishy. Since 2010, there has been mounting evidence that the whole thing was riddled with corruption.”

Mr Collins said: “If you can prove that bribes were paid in return for votes, then there is absolutely no question that Qatar should lose the right to host the World Cup.”

Nicolas Sarkozy’s lawyer, Thierry Herzog, has denied any wrongdoing by his client.