From 9News Australia

Russia and Qatar could lose the right to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups if evidence is found of corruption in the bidding process, a FIFA official has been quoted as saying.

The comments by the head of FIFA’s auditing and compliance committee came as bribery claims mounted against disgraced former FIFA vice president Jack Warner, the man at the heart of the scandal engulfing football’s world body.

“If evidence exists that Qatar and Russia received the (World Cup) awards only thanks to bribes, then the awards could be annulled,” Domenico Scala told the Swiss newspaper Sonntagszeitung on Sunday.

He said however that “this evidence has not been provided” so far.

His comments are the first by a senior FIFA official to even open up the possibility of either Russia or Qatar being stripped of the right to host the football extravaganza.

Should Russia and Qatar be stripped of World Cup hosting rights if FIFA corruption allegations are proven?

They are likely to pique the interest of Australian soccer fans given Qatar’s 2022 bid beat, among others, one from Australia.

Swiss judicial authorities are already probing the awarding of the World Cups to Russia and Qatar as part of a far-reaching corruption scandal that has also raised questions about the 2010 event in South Africa.

Around 14 current or former FIFA officials and sports marketing executives are also accused by US prosecutors of taking part in a sweeping kickbacks scheme going back 20 years involving a total of $US150 million ($A195 million) in bribes.

The revelations have thrown the world of football into turmoil and led to the resignation of long serving FIFA president Sepp Blatter last week, just four days after his reelection for a fifth successive term.

Although Blatter has not been charged and has denied any wrongdoing, allegations are swirling around his one-time right-hand man Warner.

Accusations surfaced on Sunday that Warner sought a $US7 million bribe from Egypt for votes in the bidding process for the 2010 World Cup and that he pocketed a $US10 million payment from South Africa – the eventual host.

Warner was arrested on May 29 at the request of US authorities and is currently free on $US400,000 bail pending a decision in his extradition case.

The 72-year-old former schoolteacher and Trinidadian justice minister has denied all the allegations against him.

The BBC claimed he personally used the $US10 million payment to FIFA in 2008 which South Africa says was intended for football development for the African diaspora in the Caribbean, where Warner was the longtime football baron.

The BBC, citing documents it has seen, said Warner laundered the money through a supermarket chain, made cash withdrawals, paid off his credit cards and took personal loans.

In three transactions in 2008, funds totalling $US10 million were moved from FIFA’s bank into an account of Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) which was controlled by Warner, then its president.

According to a 2007 email published on Sunday by South Africa’s Sunday Times, Blatter and then South African president Thabo Mbeki discussed the $US10 million.

The email came from FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke, who has previously said “I have nothing to blame myself for” over the payment.

In another allegation, Egyptian former sports minister Aley Eddine Helal said Warner asked Egypt in 2004 for a $7-million bribe in exchange for seven votes to host the 2010 Cup.

“Warner was the one who approached us from FIFA. He said he could guarantee us seven votes… He asked for one million dollars for each vote,” claimed Helal, who on Thursday told an Egyptian TV channel that Warner’s offer had been rebuffed.

Egypt, one of the countries dominating African football, received no votes in the 2004 FIFA ballot.

IMAGES:
Disgraced former FIFA vice president Jack Warner
A showcase stadium built in Qatar ahead of the 2022 World Cup. (EPA/STR)

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