Did Qatar deploy ex-spies to undo allegations laid by German’s World Cup Federation?
As per the investigative report of the Associated Press, Qatar hired Global Risk Advisors’s (GRA) Ex- CIA officer for the covert influence operation, named “Project Riverbed,” which targeted Theo Zwanziger, a former FIFA executive committee member and president of the German soccer federation who was an opinionated detractor of the 2010 verdict to award the FIFA World Cup 2022, sports tournament to Qatar.
The organizing Nation paid more than USD 10 million to a company GRA (US-based management consultancy providing cybersecurity firm) staffed by Kevin Chalker former CIA operatives in an attempt to calm criticism from the head of German soccer against the wealthy Arab nation’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup.
After the culmination of more than a dozen years of efforts, the tiny Dessert Gulf Nation (Qatar) is all set to represent itself on the world stage by hosting FIFA World Cup 2022. Since Qatar won the rights to host, the endeavor has long been dogged by allegations of corruption including the bidding process and human rights issues.
Apparently, Kevin Chalker worked for Qatar in the years that followed to keep records on Qatar’s critics in the soccer world. Private contractor Chalker spied on rival countries bidding to host the tournament and key soccer officials who chose the winner in 2010 when Qatar was awarded the World Cup. The spying operation was in violation of FIFA rules.
In March 2018, George Nader (political advisor of UAE) and Elliott Broidy (Republican lobbyist and Trump fundraiser) signed lucrative gulf contracts of $100M that concludes anti-Qatar efforts. They hired internet trolls and influencers as a part of their smear campaign against Qatar.
In a view to answering Nader and Broidy, Qatar hired GRA as its cyber ally. Elliott Broidy (Republican lobbyist and Trump fundraiser) accused GRA, as the firm helped Qatar by hacking the email account of Broidy as well as distributing the emails to the outlets of news.
The state of Qatar was too sued by Broidy, as the reporters of the nation published the details of his private emails demonstrating his business ties and lobbying efforts on behalf of the UAE.
Apparently, this chain of allegations is something that Qatar will have to deal with till it successfully hosts FIFA 2022
