Former Tahitian vice-president of Fifa, Reynald Temarii was indicted this Saturday, May 27, said the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF), thus confirming the information from Le Monde. The former head of the International Football Federation is accused of passive private corruption in the investigation in Paris into the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.
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 May 22. He had been placed under the more favorable status of assisted witness in this case since November 2021. AFP could not immediately reach his lawyer for comment.
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 volte-face of Mr. Temarii, former president of the Oceanian Football Confederation (OFC), the day before the World Cup was awarded to Qatar. Suspended for one year by Fifa, on November 17, 2010, for violation of the code of ethics after articles in the Sunday Times, Reynald Temarii could no longer sit on the executive committee on December 2, 2010 for the vote.
The OFC therefore had to appoint a replacement who would have given their vote to Australia in the first round of voting and then, in the event of failure, to the United States, Qatar’s main rivals. However, Mr. Temarii appealed against his suspension on the night of November 30 to December 1 when he had previously announced that he accepted the sanction and that he did not have the motivations of the ethics committee allowing him this appeal.
By appealing, according to the statutes of Fifa, he deprived the OFC of a representative during the vote. On December 2, 2010, Qatar won ahead of the United States, yet favorites. The assumption of defense costs for Mr. Temarii for an amount of 305,000 euros by the influential Qatari Mohammed 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.