But Mr Garcia has investigated Australia's interaction with the two allegedly corrupt former FIFA officials, Jack Warner and Reynald Temarii, who are also at the centre of allegations involving Qatar's successful 2022 world cup bid. Interview: Bonnie Mersiades. Fairfax Media can reveal that: Mr Garcia has interviewed the FFA's former chief financial officer Ian Lewis, who is understood to have left the body in 2010 after expressing concerns that he was not able to oversee the multi-million dollar World Cup expenditure. The FFA has failed to call in the Federal Police to investigate the findings of an inquiry last year that concluded the allegedly corrupt Mr Warner stole $500,000 in Australian football funds he had requested to upgrade a stadium.

The funds were meant for a Trinidad and Tobago stadium upgrade that Mr Warner had sought from Australian soccer officials in 2010, at a time when the FFA was also seeking Mr Warner's support for Australia's ultimately unsuccessful world cup hosting bid. A senior FIFA source described as "disgraceful" the revelation that the FFA has not informed the Federal Police about the allegedly stolen money. The FFA sent the funds to a Warner-controlled Caribbean bank account in 2010, ostensibly to fund the upgrade. Ms Mersiades refused to confirm whether she had been interviewed by Mr Garcia. But she said she believed the reason the FFA was reluctant to report Mr Warner's alleged theft was because it would expose the highly risky manner in which the FFA gave "international development" grants to corruption-riddled overseas football bodies at a time when the FFA was also seeking their support for Australia's bid to host the World Cup. "The FFA should report the alleged theft of its funds by Mr Warner immediately to the Federal Police, given a 2013 inquiry has already found that a fraud has most likely been committed," Ms Mersiades said.

The inquiry was conducted by the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) integrity committee and found that the $US462,200 the FFA deposited in a Caribbean bank account controlled by Mr Warner had most likely been stolen. Over the weekend, the British paper the Sunday Times exposed an alleged bid-buying racket run by former FIFA executive committee member, Qatari Mohamed Bin Hammam. It allegedly involved payments totalling about $US5 million to football officials in return for getting them to support Qatar's ultimately successful world cup bid. Among the questionable payments allegedly made by Bin Hammam were those wired to Mr Warner and Reynald Temarii. Both are former FIFA executives who Australia was lobbying in a controversial manner in 2010.

Mr Temarii had a list of demands for the FFA to meet in return for his vote, including giving Hyundai vehicles to Oceania member federations and providing financial assistance to soccer in the region. Ms Mersiades said: "The revelations in the Sunday Times about the way Bin Hammam used hospitality, gifts, perks and upgrades of stadiums to win bid support has parallels with the manner in which Australia used some of its funds during its bidding campaign. Just look at the FFA funds that landed in Warner's account and which have never been recovered." The revelations of the Bin Hammam payments have sparked intense debate about whether to challenge Qatar's right to host the 2022 World Cup, with the FFA saying it is "keenly interested" to see the results of an ongoing FIFA investigation into the Qatari bid. When the FFA was asked why it had not reported to the Federal Police the alleged theft by Mr Warner - given the crime was exposed in an inquiry a year ago - a spokesman said it was waiting "the outcome of … [the ongoing FIFA inquiry] before pursuing the matter."