“Project Merciless”: Qatar’s plan to spy on top FIFA leaders and ensure the organization of the 2022 World Cup

Qatar orchestrated a large-scale and long-term intelligence operation against FIFA officials in which it spent hundreds of millions of dollars on hacking operations to ensure the organization of the 2022 World Cup.

According to an investigation by the Swiss media SRF and Swiss Info, and by the AP news agency, the State of Qatar ordered the “Project Merciless” to win the World Cup candidacy after massive criticism aroused by FIFA’s concession of the tournament to the controversial country in 2010.

The plan was huge: the budget amounted to 387 million dollars. And the activities covered five continents. In fact, the highest echelons of the Qatari government were involved in espionage activities, including the current head of state, the Emir of Qatar.

The documents show that the project wanted to ensure that nothing could jeopardize the celebration of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. And to achieve this, they hired Kevin Chalker’s private US company Global Risk Advisors (GRA).

Chalker’s goal, according to AP, was to improve Qatar’s image, while at the same time undermining critics who have accused the Persian Gulf monarchy of funding terrorists and committing other violations.

The AP agency and ESPN also revealed that the FBI is investigating the activities of Global Risk Advisors.

The spies violated email accounts, computers, phones, and investigated friends and even family members of FIFA leaders and advisors.

The first blow occurred on January 5, 2012, when a former advisor to FIFA President Joseph “Sepp” Blatter began receiving strange emails. The goal was for him to open the attached files to secretly install software on his computer.

The victim was Peter Hargitay, an influential advisor within FIFA. He was close to then-President Sepp Blatter. Later, he was an advisor to the Australian Football Federation and its president Frank Lowy, a billionaire. Hargitay worked to help Australia organize the 2022 World Cup, a goal that ultimately failed to achieve.

Hargitay’s computer was the main treasure of spies.

The tests quickly targeted the infrastructure of an India-based IT company, Appin Security.

The company was then controlled by an Indian businessman. The businessman’s lawyer told SRF: “My client is a successful international businessman with a good reputation. He has never been questioned by the police in any country. He expressly denies any connection to any illegal activity.”

However, attacks that bore Appin’s footprint began to attract worldwide attention. Apparently, SRF reveals, they weren’t following any pattern, as if the Indian company were randomly attacking.

According to the research, a relatively new business model is behind the method: a company attacks objectives in exchange for a fee and provides the information to a customer. This is what is called “rental hacking”... The attack on Peter Hargitay, a member of FIFA, was a job for hire.

The documents show that Hargitay was the target of a secret espionage network that worked for the Qatari government. A highly confidential planning document from Global Risk Advisors reveals what presumably occurred in the case of the hack. And it shows that Swiss citizens were attacked on behalf of the Qatari government.

The documents reveal a plan for a global smear campaign, a cynical manipulation of FIFA’s power base. The idea presented in the document was to collect incriminating information about FIFA members Hargitay and Lowy and to leak it.

The real target was Lowy, not Hargitay, as the documents show. Lowy had been working closely with Hargitay for the Australian bid for the World Cup. The reason for the spies’ efforts against Lowy seems obvious: the Australian was a staunch opponent of the celebration of the World Cup in Qatar.

The Global Risk Advisors plan:

The planning document stipulates 9 months to “neutralize the role and influence of Frank Lowy”. He also mentions that Lowy was a difficult target. His wealth and network gave him access to considerable means in the field of counterintelligence. This risk for Global Risk Advisors officials, should anything go wrong, was considered high.

According to the documents, Qatar approved the project and a month later Hargitay’s computer was hacked. The fact that the attack was carried out by another company is not unusual. Global Risk Advisors frequently uses the services of subcontractors to carry out operations.

The plan to engage Lowy and Hargitay, however, represents the tip of a huge iceberg, the research reveals.

According to documents obtained by SRF, Qatar invested 10 million dollars in spying and influencing German football official Theo Zwanziger.

Zwanziger was president of the German Football Federation until 2012. And as a member of the FIFA Executive Committee until 2015, he was a critical voice against Qatar. It was he who called Qatar a “cancer of world football”.

It quickly became a goal of the plan. According to the documents, a network was created around Zwanziger, consisting of people who should influence him for the benefit of Qatar.

Zwanziger’s family was also in his sights. Global Risk Advisors attackers apparently established relationships with people close to Zwanziger. They created a network of “assets, sources and contacts” that were active on five continents, working to influence the German leader.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) was another stumbling block. For years, the federation, which has 200 million members, has been denouncing abuses against workers in the World Cup Qatar.

The union was the victim of a cyber attack in late 2015 and the attack was marked by Global Risk Advisors. SRF obtained a document in which Global Risk Advisors identifies the union as a problem as serious for Qatar as FIFA.

According to documents reviewed by SRF, the then heir to the throne and current emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani personally ordered the collection of telephone records and text messages from several members of the FIFA Executive Committee before the World Cup was awarded.

And according to the Associated Press news agency, the FBI has been investigating Chalker for several months. In addition to possible violations of the law in the area of lobbying and the export of sensitive technology, investigators are focusing on Chalker’s surveillance activities on behalf of Qatar.

SRF research shows that Switzerland was key to the Qatari intelligence operation. According to the investigation, Chalker traveled to Zurich in order to put microphones in the hotel rooms of members of the Executive Committee and journalists.

One of the documents includes photos that were taken as part of a surveillance operation at the luxurious Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich. And they show people related to FIFA meeting with officials and journalists.

The SRF investigation also found that a key person for the next World Cup, Hassan Al Thawadi, was overseeing the espionage operation on behalf of Qatar. Al Thawadi was the general director of the World Cup winning candidacy and is the current secretary general of the Supreme Committee, the body that organizes the World Cup in Qatar.

SRF states that the Zurich prosecutor’s office knew from the beginning about the alleged activity of the spying network and that they had been aware of the Peter Hargitay hack since 2012.

However, it closed the case eight years later due to “lack of adequate investigative channels”.

There are less than three weeks left before the start of the World Cup, a football party that has now been targeted by espionage and manipulation.

Originally published in Infobae