World Cup Bribery Allegations Continue With Explosive Sunday Times Dossier

Even More Allegations That Russia And Qatar Fixed World Cup Vote
Germany's head coach Joachim Loew shows the world cup trophy to fans during a public training session of the German national football team in Duesseldorf, Germany on September 1, 2014. Germany's squad prepares for the upcoming friendly game against Argentina on September 3, 2014 in Duesseldorf. AFP PHOTO / PATRIK STOLLARZ (Photo credit should read PATRIK STOLLARZ/AFP/Getty Images)
Germany's head coach Joachim Loew shows the world cup trophy to fans during a public training session of the German national football team in Duesseldorf, Germany on September 1, 2014. Germany's squad prepares for the upcoming friendly game against Argentina on September 3, 2014 in Duesseldorf. AFP PHOTO / PATRIK STOLLARZ (Photo credit should read PATRIK STOLLARZ/AFP/Getty Images)
PATRIK STOLLARZ via Getty Images

Further allegations of corruption have been made surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids.

A "secret database" held within the England 2018 bid alleges that Russia and Qatar swapped votes as part of a huge bilateral gas deal.

The revelations were made in a dossier compiled by the Sunday Times which has been presented to the Commons culture, media and sport committee which subsequently published the findings.

As part of England’s submission to the 2018 World Cup bid, which was won by Russia, ex-MI6 employees and British embassies were hired to spy on their rivals, finding the rules for bidding nations were exploited.

The allegations remain unconfirmed but potentially go as high as Vladimir Putin who is said to have recruited Fifa president Sepp Blatter to help lobby for votes.

Other claims suggest Uefa president and voter, Michel Platini, was given an original Picasso painting by the Russians while Qatar secured the 2022 bid through its dominance in the natural gas industry.

The two countries have always denied any wrongdoing and an internal Fifa investigation cleared backed them in a report that was widely condemned.

However, hours after it was released, US lawyer Michael Garcia, who led the investigation which led to the report, has said the summary "contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions."

Garcia said he would contact Fifa's appeals committee about the summary, which Fifa had insisted on publishing rather than releasing his full original research.

England's bid also comes under fire in the Sunday Times dossier with its bid team accused of arranging a vote-swapping with agreement with South Korea.

John Whittingdale, chairman of the culture, media and sport committee, said: "I’m very concerned about these allegations both about the existence of this report, which was never made available to us, and also the that the bid team may have broken the rules by making a collusion deal, and I will be seeking a response from the bid team on all these points."

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