Independent senator says Australia should be refunded the $40m spent on the ‘fixed’ bidding process in wake of the Fifa corruption allegations

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Australia was “treated like a mug” over the host selection process for the 2022 World Cup which saw the prestigious tournament awarded to Qatar, independent senator Nick Xenophon has claimed.

In the wake of sensational corruption charges against nine former or current Fifa officials and four marketing executives on Wednesday, Xenophon said it was time for “Australia to get a refund of the $40m plus it spent on its failed bid”.



“There must be a re-opening of that bid. It’s not too late. At the very least Australia deserves a refund,” he said in Canberra.

He said the Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, who broke his silence over the affair on Wednesday, “has a lot of explaining to do in relation to … the flawed investigation into the corruption allegations of the Qatar bid”.

“Really, Australia has been treated like a mug in the way that it spent tens of millions of dollars in a failed bid, where it never had a chance because it seems the fix was in early on with Fifa,” Xenophon said.

The United States, South Korea and Japan also made unsuccessful bids to host the tournament. Australia was eliminated in the first round of the process, getting only a single vote.

Australia football chiefs, who are expected to land shortly in Zurich for the annual Fifa congress, said they were reviewing the charges.

“The Australian delegation will review the developments involving Swiss and US law enforcement authorities over the conduct of Fifa officials,” Football Federation Australia (FFA) said in a statement on Thursday.

Australian football luminary Les Murray told the ABC it was a “good day”.

“There’s always been suspicion hovering around Fifa’s high places about corruption,” he said.

“There has been suspicions, including by myself, for a long time about the propriety of Qatar’s victory because it was so bizarre, so unexpected, so inexplicable that there was simply no other explanation except some suggestion that some funny business was going on.

“So there might be some interesting things coming out of that in the investigation.”

Murray said that if the accusations were sustained Australia should vie again to host the tournament. “If it comes to pass and the courts rule that in fact, some manipulation was made and bribes were taken, then I don’t believe there’s any other choice but to have a re-vote,” he said.

“If there is a re-vote, I think Australia should bid again.”

Blatter, who is running for his fifth term at the helm of the embattled organisation, said it was “a difficult time for football, the fans and for Fifa as an organisation”.



“As unfortunate as these events are, it should be clear that we welcome the actions and the investigations by the US and Swiss authorities and believe that it will help to reinforce measures that Fifa has already taken to root out any wrongdoing in football,” he said in a statement on the Fifa website.

The US attorney-general, Loretta Lynch, on Wednesday accused the nine Fifa officials charged of “rampant, systemic and deep-rooted” scheme to “acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks”.

She would not comment on whether Blatter himself would be scrutinised as part of the ongoing investigation.

Among those arrested in dramatic morning raids in Zurich were former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner, who was accused by a 2013 inquiry of stealing more than $500,000 from the FFA.

An investigation by the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) integrity committee found the FFA deposited $US462,200 into a Caribbean bank account controlled by Warner.

It is not clear what happened to the money, which was ostensibly a donation for the development of a football stadium in Trinidad and Tobago.

The federal sports minister, Sussan Ley, said Australia had shown it could be “a world-class host” of international sporting events. “However, I think it’s inappropriate to be talking about putting more taxpayer funds into a rebid when we have serious allegations about corruption unfolding,” she said.