Tuesday, 22 April 2014 00:35
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A bank savings account of a 10-year-old daughter of a FIFA executive who helped to select 2018 and 2022 World Cup host nations received more than £ 2 million ($ 3.35 million), a Telegraph report said.
Antonia Wigand Teixeira, the daughter of the Brazilian representative on the FIFA Executive Committee, received the money in 2011. Her father, Ricardo, who stepped down from the committee in 2012, has recently moved to Miami after Brazilian police began an investigation into his activities, the report said.
The disclosure will raise questions about the finances of some FIFA officials who participated in the decision to award Russia and Qatar the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, the report said.
Michael Garcia, the joint chief investigator of FIFA’s ethics committee, is looking at the bidding process and is understood to be examining business deals connected to several current and former executive committee members.
The decision to award Qatar the World Cup has been controversial. The successful bid team has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing during the bidding process but FIFA has faced repeated calls to rerun the contest as concerns grow over the decision to hold the football competition in a desert state where temperatures hover around 104F (40C).
The money transfer to Teixeira’s daughter, whose account is registered in Rio, is thought to have been made by Sandro Rosell. Teixeira has had a long-standing relationship involving a number of reported business deals with Rosell, who was previously head of Nike Brazil and until early this year was President of Barcelona Football Club.
A statement issued by lawyers acting for the Qatar bid said the payment from Rosell to Teixeira had nothing to do with the country’s bid for the 2022 World Cup and they had not given him any payments to secure Teixeira’s vote.
The report said it has emerged that Garcia is investigating Teixeira’s decision to support Qatar’s bid.
