French issue arrest warrant for Bin Hammam over Qatar 2022 vote

A magistrate in Paris has issued an international arrest warrant for former Asian football chief Mohamed Bin Hammam on suspicion of corruption in connection with the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, a judicial source said on Tuesday.

According to a report in French sports daily L’Equipe, the arrest warrant was issued on June 22 after the Qatari failed to respond to several summonses to appear before the financial investigating magistrate.

Bin Hammam, former president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), is “accused of private corruption in connection with the awarding of the football World Cup to Qatar”, said the source.

The businessman was banned for life from football following accusations of corruption and conflicts of interest. 

This part of the probe, which was launched in 2019, is focusing on the role played by Bin Hammam in the actions of Reynald Temarii, ex-president of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) on the eve of the vote that awarded the competition to Qatar.

Having been suspended by FIFA the previous month for breaching the code of ethics, Temarii was no longer eligible to sit on the organisation’s executive committee for the vote on December 2, 2010.

The OFC was due to appoint a replacement who would have given their vote to Australia and, if that failed, to the United States, Qatar’s main rivals.

After initially accepting his suspension, Temarii appealed against it on the night of November 30 and consequently deprived the OFC of a vote. 

Qatar won the final round of voting 14-8 ahead of the United States. 

Investigators are concerned by the fact that Bin Hammam paid Temarii’s defence costs of 305,000 euros ($323,000) and financed the Tahitian’s trip to Kuala Lumpur to meet him between his sanction and the FIFA vote. 

During this visit, the Qatari is said to have convinced Temarii to appeal against his sanction. 

The financial magistrates are also looking into whether Michel Platini, who was UEFA boss at the time, sold his vote.