| Dr. Amos Adamu |
The “whistleblower” behind a series of corruption allegations involving FIFA executive committee members and Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid has told the BBC she fabricated the claims.
Phaedra Al Majid, a former international media officer for Qatar 2022, said she wanted to exact revenge after losing her job on the campaign.
She decided to go public after she said her “lies had gone too far”.
Al Majid has now signed a legal affadavit retracting the allegations.
My intentions were to make a few headlines, I never expected that my lies would be carried on and discussed in parliament
Originally made anonymously to journalists, the claims became the subject of an inquiry by the parliamentary select committee for culture, media and sport.
She says she is deeply sorry for the trouble she has caused World Cup officials in Qatar and the three FIFA executive committee members she accused of accepting bribes.
“I was very upset after I left the bid and wanted to basically hurt the bid back,” she said. “My intentions were to make a few headlines, I never expected that my lies would be carried on and discussed in parliament.
“It just went too far. I never expected it to come to this point. There was never anything suspicious or any wrongdoing on Qatar’s part.
“I cannot tell you how sorry I am. I have hurt reputations of three members of the FIFA exco, I have hurt their reputation, and more importantly I have hurt my colleagues on the Qatar bid.”
Al Majid originally said African Football Confederation president Issa Hayatou, Cote d’Ivoire FIFA member Jacques Anomua and Nigeria’s suspended exco official Amos Adamu were paid $1.5million to vote for Qatar.
The allegations were denied by all three men but were made public under parliamentary privilege when the Sunday Times submitted evidence from their investigation into FIFA to the select committee in May.
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