The twists and turns of Qatargate are not over. As revealed this Tuesday The Team, Mohamed Bin Hammam is in fact in the sights of French justice. The former president of the Asian Football Confederation is thus actively sought by judge Serge Tournaire, with an arrest warrant issued on June 22 for “acts of private corruption linked to the attribution of the World Cup football 2022”, according to a judicial source.
The man who aspired to succeed Sepp Blatter at the head of Fifa was suspended for life by the world football body in 2011 for suspicion of bribery. He was then accused of buying votes in the body’s presidential race. According to a survey published in 2014 by the Sunday TimesMohamed Bin Hammam offered, in November 2010, 305,000 euros to the Polynesian Reynald Temarri, president of the Oceania Football Confederation from 2004 to 2010, in order to promote the award of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar a month later .
Judge Tournaire has wanted to raise these important suspicions with Mohamed Bin Hammam for several years, but he does not respond to any summons and his home remains unknown to the authorities.