Former Tahitian vice-president of Fifa Reynald Temarii has been indicted for passive private corruption in the investigation in Paris into the award of the World Cup-2022 to Qatar, said Saturday the national financial prosecutor's office (PNF), confirming information from Le Monde.
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This indictment, the first in this case, was served on Mr. Temarii by the investigating judges in charge of the case in a letter dated 22 May. Since November 2021, he had been placed under the more favorable status of assisted witness in this case.
AFP could not immediately reach his lawyer for comment.
Dubious about-face
In this part of the judicial investigation opened in 2019 in Paris on the designation of the emirate as host country, the investigating judges are interested in the about-face of Mr. Temarii, former president of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), the day before the award of the World Cup to Qatar.
Suspended for one year by FIFA (International Football Federation) on 17 November 2010 for breach of the code of ethics after articles in the Sunday Times, Reynald Temarii could no longer sit on the executive committee on 2 December 2010 for the vote.
The OFC therefore had to appoint a replacement who would have given his vote to Australia in the first round of voting and, if unsuccessful, to the United States, Qatar's main rivals.
However, Mr Temarii appealed against his suspension on the night of 30 November to 1 December even though he had previously announced that he accepted the sanction and did not have the reasons of the ethics committee allowing him to do so.
By appealing, according to FIFA's statutes, he deprived the OFC of a representative during the vote. On December 2, 2010, Qatar won over the United States, who were favourites.
The assumption of the defense costs of Mr. Temarii for an amount of 305,000 euros by the influential Qatari Mohamed Bin Hammam also intrigues the investigating judges.
Just like an all-expenses-paid trip to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) between its sanction and the FIFA vote, to meet Mr. Bin Hammam.
