The Australian federal police may investigate a payment of $500,000 by Football Federation Australia to former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner.

It’s understood Bonita Mersiades, a former Australian football executive turned whistleblower, has written to the AFP asking that it investigate the matter following raids that resulted in the arrests of seven high-ranking executives of football’s global governing body.



The AFP’s commissioner, Andrew Colvin, on Thursday confirmed that it may investigate the allegations after the matter was raised by the South Australian senator Nick Xenophon during a Senate hearing in Canberra.



Xenophon has also called on FFA to formally report to US authorities the payment it made to Warner, who is facing eight counts of corruption.



He’s also urged the federal government to denounce Fifa’s president, Sepp Blatter, and request a fresh vote for the 2022 World Cup.



Australians should be worried about the $45m it spent on a “fixed” bidding process to host the event after several top FIFA officials were arrested on corruption charges, he said.



“The beautiful game has been turned into an incredibly ugly business,” Xenophon said on Thursday. “There needs to be action taken, but the first step is that we need to say that this is just outrageous.”

Both the Australian government and FFA needed to speak out about Blatter and the need for reform at Fifa to restore some integrity in the sport, he said.



‘Australia has been treated like a mug,’ says Nick Xenophon Guardian

“I think once you get some countries such as Australia speaking out, the dam will break and many others will speak out on this.”



It’s alleged Warner stole the money which had been intended for a stadium upgrade in Trinidad and Tobago in 2010.



Australia’s sport minister, Sussan Ley, said details of Australia’s bid was primarily a matter for FFA and any questions about the use of taxpayer funds could be asked at Senate estimates.



“I think it’s inappropriate to be talking about putting more taxpayers’ funds into a rebid when we have serious allegations about corruption unfolding,” she said in a statement.



Investigators raided the head offices of Fifa on Wednesday in a new probe into the hosting process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.



Seven FIFA executives were arrested at the United States’ behest at a luxury Zurich hotel.



The seven are among 14 people, including one with dubious connections to Australia’s failed bid, charged with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies.



The US is seeking their extradition to face charges they conspired to solicit and receive more than $US150m ($A194m) in bribes and kickbacks, in exchange for their support of marketing executives who agreed to make the illegal payments.