Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 men’s football World Cup has provoked a fair degree of anger and confusion. Why, many have asked, was the tournament awarded to a country with such a poor record on human rights in general and LGBTQ+ rights in particular?

Allegations of corruption within the process by which Qatar was awarded the tournament have also been much discussed. However, with all the heat Qatar is taking, there’s a danger that proven corruption at Fifa and its subsequent failure to reform may not receive the attention it deserves.

Two external inquiries – one by Swiss prosecutors and the other by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) – have investigated claims of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering by people in and around Fifa.

The Swiss investigations looked in particular at fraud, mismanagement and misappropriation of Fifa funds by high-ranking Fifa officials. Numerous cases are ongoing and several people have been convicted, although former Fifa president Sepp Blatter and vice-president Michael Platini were acquitted (after an eight-year ban from professional football by Fifa). The Qatari football executive and government minister Nasser al-Khelaïfi was also cleared in the Swiss corruption trial.

The DoJ’s focus was more on the distribution of media rights, bribery and money laundering. The US inquiry has investigated the behaviour of Fifa officials over decades. More than 50 individual and corporate defendants have been criminally charged mostly in connection with alleged bribes and the laundering of those payments. Four corporations and 27 people pleaded guilty to various bribery and money-laundering charges.

Several people have been convicted, others acquitted, and a number of the cases are ongoing, largely of individuals fighting extradition to the US. The DoJ has subsequently seized over US$201 million (£170 million) from the accounts of former officials involved in the corruption schemes.

The DoJ has also accused three officials of accepting bribes for awarding world cup tournaments to Russia and Qatar. Two are now dead and the third, Brazilian Ricardo Teixeira, cannot be extradited. He denies all charges but has been banned from professional football for life by Fifa over allegations of accepting bribes related to South American competitions.

Read full story https://theconversation.com/world-cup-2022-heat-on-qatar-diverts-attention-from-fifas-failure-to-tackle-proven-corruption-194298