FIFA Official admits that Russia and Qatar may lose their hosting rights if conclusive new proof of corruption emerges.
“If evidence should emerge that the awards to Qatar and Russia only came about thanks to bought votes then the awards could be invalidated,” said Domenico Scala, the independent chairman of Fifa’s audit and compliance committee, in an interview with the Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung. “This evidence has not yet been brought forth.”
The countries deny wrongdoing in their bidding processes and Scala admits he has not seen evidence of corruption.
"Should there be evidence that the awards to Qatar and Russia came only because of bought votes, then the awards could be cancelled."
"Until today, the respective evidence has not been provided." he said.
Scala made similar comments at the end of 2013 but in light of events at FIFA in the past two weeks this will be viewed as a more serious warning.
They are among 14 people charged by US prosecutors, who allege they accepted bribes and kickbacks estimated at more than $150m (£100m) over a 24-year period.
Swiss authorities have also launched a separate criminal investigation into how the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were allocated.
0 comments:
Post a Comment