Officials of the highest level of FIFA would have been spied on for at least nine years by Qatar, in order to guarantee the celebration in that Arab country of the Soccer World Cup that will begin in three weeks. This is confirmed by an investigative report broadcast on Swiss television.
The report, from the German public channel SRF, stated that Tamin bin Hamad al Thani, emir of Qatar, was directly involved in the operation espionage. And it is that he ordered former CIA spies to obtain detailed lists of calls and messages by members of the FIFA Executive Committee.
The operation could initially have been directed against the rival candidacies of Qatar (United States, Japan, Australia and South Korea), to organize the World Cup in 2022 and, subsequently, to silence critical voices with the choice of the Arab country for its alleged abuses on labor and human rights.
Qatar, according to SRF used the American company Global Risk Advisors for this espionage, directed by Kevin Chalker, a former CIA spy, and made up of former collaborators of the American secret services.
Some 66 agents would have participated in this network on five continents, as part of an agreement between Qatar and the security firm that could be negotiated in Zurich, the city where FIFA’s headquarters are located. This could have cost $387 million dollars, always according to Swiss public television.
The Qatari authorities have not responded to these accusations. However, Al Thani has denounced a smear campaign against his country in the final stretch towards the celebration of the World Cup, the first to be played in an Arab nation.
For its part, the Zurich Public Prosecutor’s Office, aware of the possible espionage since the year 2012, did not want to open investigations. In fact, it definitively closed the possible case in 2020, after alleging lack of evidence.
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