Nothing to hide: Qatar WCup bid organizers

The Sunday Times reported recently that some of the "millions of documents" it had seen linked payments by former FIFA executive committee member Mohamed Bin Hammam to officials to win backing for Qatar's World Cup bid.

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Bin Hammam has not commented on his involvement since he was banned for life from soccer in 2012.

The Qatar 2022 statement confirmed that it had a "relationship" with Bin Hammam, but repeated earlier denials that he was a part of the official bid team.

"Let us be clear: Mr. Bin Hammam is from Qatar, but he was not a member of Qatar's bid team."

"We have nothing to hide ... In every aspect of the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup bidding process, we strictly adhered to FIFA's rules and regulations."

Qatar 2022 said it expected further "attacks" on the bid process this weekend, a reference to a series of articles that have appeared in the Sunday Times about the buildup to the 2010 decision on who should host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

On Saturday, the newspaper released details of its latest report, in which it said FIFA bosses had been warned in a "secret terror briefing" prior to the 2010 vote that there was a "high risk" of a terrorist attack shutting down the event.

It said FIFA's executive committee (Exco) was briefed on the report written by André Pruis, the South African police chief in charge of security at the 2010 World Cup.

While other bid nations were assessed as low to moderate, Pruis concluded: "In view of the risks ... Qatar is allocated a risk rating of high. I am of the view that it would be very difficult to deal with a major incident in such an environment without having to cancel the event."

The Sunday Times report came out shortly after the Qatar 2022 statement was released. A spokesman for the organizers said he had no comment on the latest report.