The Australian Football Federation has denied any wrongdoing in its failed 2022 World Cup bid, insisting its dealings were transparent.
A bid member says a $4m grant to the Oceania governing body needs examining.
Bonita Mersiades spoke after claims ex-Fifa official Mohamed bin Hammam made payments to assist Qatar’s winning bid.
“Was a vote attached [to the $4m]? If yes, it’s hard to argue the activity is much different from what Bin Hammam is alleged to have been doing,” she said.
Bin Hammam is under investigation for allegedly making payments totalling $5m (£3m) to football officials in return for their support for the Qatar bid.
Mersiades, who was head of corporate affairs for the Australian Football Federation (FFA) during the bid process, added: “Some of the evidence published in relation to Qatar was that some of the money was given to development projects – we gave money for development projects.”
But the FFA insist payments to the Oceania Football Federation “met Fifa guidelines” and were conducted “with due diligence”.
The organisation donated £275,000 in 2010 as financial support towards a feasibility study for a Concacaf Centre of Excellence project in the Caribbean but the funds were later “misappropriated”.
Fifa investigator and New York Lawyer Michael Garcia – who has led an inquiry into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process – was made aware of the lost sum.
Garcia plans to complete his probe of the controversial World Cup bidding processes by 9 June, but will not publish a report until late July. Qatar’s 2022 bid committee denies “all allegations of wrongdoing”.
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