(Newswire.net — May 29, 2015) — As the FIFA scandal has drawn attention nationwide, the US government wants to find the underlying cause of corruption and money laundering in the world soccer organization. The game, which the rest of the planet calls football, is not among the most popular sports in the US, and much less common than baseball, football, and basketball. However, the popularity of soccer in US is on the constant rise and winning the World Cup organization has become a big deal.
With former US President Bill Clinton as the honorary chairman of the US committee for WC2022, odds were bright. Surprisingly, the majority of votes went to Qatar. Even more surprising is the fact that Qatar is one of the major donors to Clinton’s charitable foundation, according to the Washington Post.
After the raid by the Swiss police on Wednesday, when some top executives were arrested, US Attorney General Loretta Lynch demanded extradition of nine arrested FIFA officials. Amid the scandal, the investigation was launched to determine whether Qatar inappropriately won the bid for the 2022 World Cup.
FIFA officially stated that their investigation showed there was no irregularity in Qatar’s winning and confirmed the bidding results. However, some unexpected transfers surfaced exposing the ties between the Qatar committee and the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, the Washington Post reported.
The foundation’s donor records, posted on its Web site, show that FIFA, or the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, has donated between $50,000 and $100,000 to the Clinton foundation, and the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, has given between $250,000 and $500,000 to the foundation.
Interestingly, the Qatar supreme Committee was founded after Qatar won the bid for the 2022 World Cup in order to build related infrastructure. It is not clear why the Committee donated the money, aside from the obvious humanitarian purpose.
Reportedly, the FIFA paid membership the the Clinton’s Foundation major event in New York, which brings together world leaders, businesses and NGOs. According to the Washington Post, at the event, FIFA pledged it would build 20 community centers in Africa in conjunction with the South African World Cup in 2010.
Qatar was sponsoring Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in 2013 with $250,000, and the Qatar National Food Security Program, established for improving the safety of the food served in soccer stadiums, has donated at least $25,000 to the foundation.
Clinton’s foundation was never the subject of investigation amid the FIFA corruption scandal.