CORRUPTION IN FIFA:Asian 2022 Organizers denies wrongdoing

Organisers of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar
have "vehemently denied all allegations of
wrong-doing" following reports of widespread
corruption during the bidding process.
A report in the Sunday Times claims the former
president of the Asian Football Confederation,
Mohamed Bin Hammam, paid out almost £3m
to garner support for Qatar's successful
campaign.
The newspaper said it had obtained "hundreds
of millions of emails, accounts and other
documents" detailing payments Bin Hammam
had allegedly made to football officials in
return for votes.
But in a statement issued on Sunday, the
Qatar 2022 bid committee insisted Bin
Hammam had played no role in their bid.
"The Qatar 2022 Bid Committee always upheld
the highest standard of ethics and integrity in
its successful bid to host the 2022 FIFA World
Cup," the statement said.
"In regard to the latest allegations from The
Sunday Times, we say again that Mohamed
Bin Hammam played no official or unofficial
role in Qatar's 2022 Bid Committee. As was
the case with every other member of FIFA's
Executive Committee, our bid team had to
convince Mr. Bin Hammam of the merits of our
bid."
The committee confirmed it was co-operating
with the ongoing investigation led by FIFA's
chief investigator, Michael Garcia, and said it
would fight to defend its "integrity".
"We are cooperating fully with Mr. Garcia's
on-going investigation and remain totally
confident that any objective enquiry will
conclude we won the bid to host the 2022
FIFA World Cup fairly," the statement
continued.
"Following today's newspaper articles, we
vehemently deny all allegations of wrong-
doing. We will take whatever steps are
necessary to defend the integrity of Qatar's bid
and our lawyers are looking in to this matter.
"The right to host the tournament was won
because it was the best bid and because it is
time for the Middle East to host its first FIFA
World Cup."