A former top official of the Fifa has termed as “fabricated” the source of reports published by UK-based Sunday Times against Qatar’s successful bid to host the Football World Cup 2022.
Michel Zen-Ruffinen, former General Secretary of FIFA, told INSIDEWorldFootball.com that he was certain that the information he had received from a European source [football official] was a fabrication, referring to the rumours of vote collusion in the race for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosting rights.
"Today, I am certain that the information I received from a European source [football official] was a fabrication," said Zen-Ruffinen in an exclusive interview with INSIDEWorldFootball.com.
The former General Secretary of FIFA is critical of English journalists who misled him. "They portrayed themselves as marketing consultants who worked for a non-European bid [fair to assume it was not an Asian bid ] and offered me a consulting agreement that I signed after reviewing the credentials they showed me. It was a proper set-up and of course I never got paid for the work I did," he said.
"The alleged Spain/Portugal and Russia/Qatar collusion, which was published in the Sunday Times was a fabrication, of that I am certain today."
The European member of a bid team, who offered him the information on vote collusion did so with the purpose of him sharing it with 'marketing consultants' (who were journalists) had fabricated that story, IWF said. “That European now works for a major media empire.”
Regarding his source, Zen-Ruffinen said: “There were allegations of collusion coming from all over the world. Those rumours were not credible.”
“One of the persons (who was representing the marketing agency of the bid committee) I spoke to has gone back to the Press,” he told INSIDEWorldFootball.com, exposing the conspiracy behind the Sunday Times campaign.
The collusion story was published by Sunday Times in 2010 after a so-called sting operation and it caused much a stir in the soccer world. The Spain-Portugal and Qatar World Cup bids were subjected to an investigation by Fifa's ethics committee following allegations that they agreed to trade votes but they were cleared of any wrongdoing after no evidence was found.
According to Zen-Ruffinen, he was approached by the marketing agency of a bid committee with an offer of appointment as a consultant, which he agreed to after due consideration. He said the information he collected from two sources- one in Africa and the other in Europe—was misused by journalists who posed as employees of the marketing agency. He said his conversation was recorded without his knowledge, which is an illegal practice in Switzerland.
Explaining the setup, the former senior Fifa official said in the first place he was provided with “fabricated information” which was used as source for the Sunday Times story.
“That was a time when people were exchanging information as two bids, one for the 2018 and the other for the 2022 World Cup were being decided at the same time.”
On the recent allegations raised by Sunday Times, Zen-Ruffinen, who left Fifa in 2002, said until clear evidence is provided, bribing charges should be stopped.
Sports / Sport
Sunday Times used fabricated information for Qatar World Cup reports: former Fifa official
Michel Zen-Ruffinen
