Is Amos Adamu innocent afterall?

Phaedra Al Majid, who worked as a press officer for Qatar 2022 retracted her allegation that Jacques Anouma, of Ivory Coast, Cameroon’s Issa Hayatou and Amos Adamu, of Nigeria, were offered bribes of up to $1.5 million to vote for Qatar.

Last year, Fifa's ethics committee banned Nigeria's Adamu and Tahiti's Reynald Temarii following a Sunday Times investigation into World Cup bidding.

Adamu, who denies the claims and has taken his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, was banned for three years for seeking bribes from undercover reporters.

With this latest development, what happens to Amos Adamu?

Recently,in a letter to Fifa and the Qatar bid, accompanied by a sworn affidavit, the whistle-blower, Phaedra Almajid, claims that she lied because she was “hurt and bitter” at being placed under pressure by the bid for failing to control the international media reaction to Qatar’s bid. She said she has received no financial inducement to make her statement.

Almajid left the Qatar bid in November 2009 after being advised that she could be replaced. In the affidavit she said she “wanted to hurt the bid like they had hurt me”.

In her letter, circulated to Fifa, the Asian Football Confederation, the Confederation of African Football, the Qatar 2022 World Cup Bid, and the Nigerian, Ivorian and Cameroonian football associations, Almajid said: “I wish to offer a full and formal apology for the fabricated allegations concerning the Qatar 2022 Fifa World Cup bid committee and Fifa executive committee members Issa Hayatou, Jacques Anouma and Amos Adamu.

“I have lied about all facts concerning the behaviour and practice of the Qatar 2022 bid. Never, at any time, were any bribes even offered, suggested or paid on behalf of the Qatar 2022 bid during any time in exchange for votes from Issa Hayatou, Jacques Anouma, and Amos Adamu.

“These allegations were in full a fabrication on my behalf. Never at any time did I wish, nor did I foresee, the extent to which these lies would be projected by the international media – even to the extent that they were presented to the United Kingdom’s Parliamentary Select Committee Inquiry into Football Governance.

“I am very sorry for any and all embarrassment caused to the various individuals and authorities concerned. I was very proud to work on behalf of the Qatar 2022 bid committee.

“I also wish to state that the decision to make this admission is entirely my own: I have not been subject to any form of pressure or been offered any financial inducement to do so.”