{"id":21981,"date":"2014-06-02T07:41:55","date_gmt":"2014-06-02T07:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=21981"},"modified":"2014-06-02T07:41:55","modified_gmt":"2014-06-02T07:41:55","slug":"qatar-world-cup-2022-fifa-investigator-to-meet-organisers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/qatar-world-cup-2022-fifa-investigator-to-meet-organisers\/","title":{"rendered":"Qatar World Cup 2022: Fifa investigator to meet organisers"},"content":{"rendered":"
Organisers of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will meet Fifa investigator Michael Garcia on Monday amid growing calls for the Gulf state to be stripped of the right to hold the tournament.<\/p>\n
The Sunday Times reported that payments of millions of pounds were made to officials who supported the bid.<\/p>\n
Fifa vice-president Jim Boyce says he would support a re-vote if corruption allegations can be proven.<\/p>\n
Qatar’s 2022 bid committee denies “all allegations of wrongdoing”.<\/p>\n
New York lawyer Garcia, who is due to meet Qatari officials in Oman, is already conducting a long-running inquiry into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Sunday Times alleges football officials took a total of\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0\u00a33m in return for support of the Qatari bid.<\/p>\n Speaking on BBC Radio 5 live’s\u00a0Sportsweek programme,<\/a>\u00a0Boyce said: “I certainly as a member of the executive committee would have absolutely no problem whatsoever if the recommendation was for a re-vote.<\/p>\n “If Garcia comes up with concrete evidence – and concrete evidence is given to the executive committee and to Fifa – then it has to be looked at very seriously.”<\/p>\n Former attorney general Lord Goldsmith, a member of Fifa’s independent committee on governance, backed Boyce’s stance.<\/p>\n “If it is proved that the decision to give Qatar the World Cup was procured by, frankly one can describe it no other way, bribery and improper influence, then that decision ought not to stand,” he told BBC Radio 4.<\/p>\n Mark Pieth, the law professor appointed by Fifa president Sepp Blatter to lead the independent committee on governance, agreed and called the latest revelations “exciting”.<\/p>\n In an interview with the BBC World Service’s Newsday programme, he also said he hoped The Sunday Times to share their information with Garcia.<\/p>\n Football Association chairman Greg Dyke has already said a new vote should take place if it was shown a “corrupt system” led to Qatar’s win, while UK Sports Minister Helen Grant said it was “essential that major sporting events are awarded in an open, fair and transparent manner”.<\/p>\n Allegations of corruption centre on former Fifa official\u00a0Mohammed bin Hammam.<\/a><\/p>\n The Sunday Times claims to have obtained secret documents that implicate the former Asian Football Confederation president in corrupting members of football’s governing body to win the right to stage the 2022 World Cup.<\/p>\n