Qatar paid ex-FIFA Jack Warner official millions: Report

London: Ex-FIFA vice-president Jack Warner and his family were paid USD 2 million by a former Qatari football official shortly after the Gulf country won the hosting rights of the 2022 World Cup, a report claimed today. According to British daily ‘The Telegraph’, Warner was personally paid USD 1.2 million from a company controlled by Mohamed Bin Hammam, former AFC President and an ex-member of Qatar’s Fifa committee. [caption id=“attachment_1439701” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational Image. Getty Images[/caption] Payments totaling almost USD 750,000 were made to Warner’s sons and a further USD 400,000 was paid to one of his employees, the daily reported. It further said that a note from one of Warner’s companies, Jamad, to Bin Hammam’s firm, Kemco, requested USD 1.2 million in payment for work carried out between 2005 and 2010. The daily said a document in its possession, dated December 15, 2010 (two weeks after Qatar won the right to host the tournament), showed that the money was “payable to Jack Warner”. Warner, who was at the centre of the Fifa bribery scandal, resigned in June 2011 from all his positions in international football. Prior to that, he had been suspended pending the outcome of an inquiry. He was one of the 22 people who decided to award Russia the 2018 World Cup and Qatar the 2022 tournament. The awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar was one of the most controversial decisions in football history. The intense summer heat in the desert nation has raised the prospect of the tournament being moved to the winter for the first time. England was one of the bidders for the 2022 edition and following its defeat, a parliamentary committee held an inquiry into the failed bid. Lord Triesman, the bid’s former chairman, gave evidence stating that four Fifa executive committee members had asked for business deals and favours, one of them being Warner. PTI