Federal Police probe FFA World Cup bid corruption allegations

The Australian Federal Police has reportedly launched an investigation into $500,000 paid by the Football Federation Australia (FFA) to disgraced former FIFA Vice-President Jack Warner as part of the FFA’s failed bid to secure the 2022 World Cup.

Warner, one of a group of current and former football executives charged with on corruption and racketeering charges by US authorities, apparently received the money personally, with no work having subsequently been carried out on a stadium project in his native Trinidad for which it was allocated.

With a failure to report this alleged theft having dogged the FFA for years, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) has reportedly contacted officials at the Federal Department of Health and Sport on the matter.

Fairfax Media has also revealed that senior members of the senate committee set to investigate the nation's anti-foreign bribery regime are pushing for FFA officials to answer questions about the $500,000 'stadium redevelopment' payment, which was allegedly stolen by Warner in 2010.

The AFP is assessing whether any Australian or foreign laws have been breached in connection to the alleged Warner theft.

The FFA has insisted it acted appropriately in making the payment for the stadium redevelopment into a bank account controlled by Warner.

In an open letter, FFA Chairman Frank Lowy said Australia's World Cup bid, which cost $45 million, was clean but admitted mistakes had been made.

Lowy wrote "(since) Australia received just one vote in its World Cup bid, I have nursed a bitter grievance

"We ran a clean bid. I know that others did not, and I have shared what I know with the authorities.

"But did we make mistakes? Yes. Were we naïve? In some cases, yes. Would we do things differently in future? Absolutely."

Lowy's letter also welcomed the resignation of FIFA President Sepp Blatter's from his role at the head of world football's governing body, adding "Sepp Blatter's resignation should open the door to major reform, "I say should because FIFA's problems are deep-rooted and tangled in a culture that has developed over decades.

"It will take a united, concerted effort by its football associations to fix the mess."

With questions surrounding the award of the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups, media reports  have suggested that both the FFA and England's Football Association are ready to hold the 2022 tournament if Qatar should be stripped in connection with corruption allegations.

Image shows FIFA's headquarters in the Swiss city of Zurich.

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