Michel Platini leaves the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona on June 8, 2022. FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP
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Qatar, already facing a cascade of criticism (corruption, human rights, environment) related to the organization of the next World Cup, finds itself embroiled in a new affair a few days before the opening of the competition. An investigation by the Sunday Times and NGO The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) published on Saturday, November 5, portrays the Gas Emirate as an alleged sponsor of a global espionage operation targeting figures – investigative journalists, political leaders, lawyers , to which it is linked the controversial assignment of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar in December 2010 or the criticism of the tournament’s host country.
The two British media use confidential documents to accuse an Indian company specializing in the technique of “phishing” and its “brain”, Aditya Jain, of having carried out computer attacks against hundreds of these personalities. The list of suspected victims of hacking provided by the Sunday Times and TBIJ is long. They include former French President of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Michel Platini; Federal President Ignazio Cassis; former British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond; Chris Mason, BBC Political Editor; French Senator (Centrist Union) Nathalie Goulet; Director Rokhaya Diallo; Mediapart journalist Yann Philippin; Ghanem Nuseibeh, head of British consultancy Cornerstone Global; or former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
Also Read: Article Reserved for Our World 2022 Subscribers: Qatari Foreign Minister Denounces “The Hypocrisy of the Attacks”
According to the two British media outlets, Mr Jain’s main client is Jonas Rey, a private investigator who worked for Swiss business intelligence firm Diligence Global. This company would have been hired in 2019 “to work on a project related to the World Cup”. Aditya Jain reportedly admitted to two undercover reporters for The Sunday Times that he “had received the email details of some high-profile individuals associated with International Football Association [FIFA] at the request of Jonas Rey, whose client was a “Gulf State”, namely Qatar.
” No proof “
“The allegations made by the TBIJ are manifestly false and unfounded,” a Qatari government spokesman replied. The report relies on a single source that claims their end customer was Qatar, although there is no evidence to support this. For his part, Jonas Rey has categorically denied any allegations of piracy and insisted that the information given to the Sunday Times was deliberately “falsified” in order to discredit him.
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