Giving his first interview since the claims were thrust into the spotlight, Nasser Al Khater told Al Jazeera: "We believe in it [the bid], we are confident of it and we are confident of how we've behaved."

The awarding of the World Cup to Qatar, together with the choice to give the 2018 edition to Russia, has been investigated by FIFA's Ethics Committee, led by New York lawyer Michael Garcia.

Its report into the claims is due to be handed to FIFA's Adjudicatory Chamber later this month.

Emphasising that the investigation is into Russia 2018 and the bid process as a whole, as well as Qatar 2022, Al Khater said: "We've been true to what we have said in the past, our statements that we always put up have held ourselves to the highest ethical standards stand from my heart."

He has also distanced the bid from disgraced former FIFA vice-president Mohammed Bin Hammam.

The Sunday Times alleged last month that Bin Hammam, formerly Qatar's top football official, made secret payments totalling $5 million (£2.9 million/€3.6 million) to help his country win the bid.

Disgraced former FIFA vice-president Mohammed Bin Hammam was not part of the Qatar 2022 bid, Nasser Al Khater has insisted ©AFP/Getty Images



"Bin Hammam was an Executive Committee member like the rest of the 23 [FIFA] Executive Committee members that were present at the time," said Al Khater.

"We had to engage with him, as we had to engage with everybody else.

"So definitely there was engagement with him.

"Was he part of our bid?

"He was not part of our bid.

"Did he represent us?

"Not at all, we have to remember that we had to engage with him, we had to convince him and it is not secret that at the very beginning he was quite skeptical about a World Cup in Qatar.

"But then when he saw the merits he saw the merits in a compact World Cup, he saw the merits on what we can give back to the world of football, I think just like we convinced the others, he was convinced as well".

As well as being dogged by corruption allegations, Qatar 2022 is at the centre of an ongoing campaign by labour unions and right groups highlighting unsafe conditions, unpaid salaries and contracts tying workers to their employer during work being carried out on building infrastructure and stadiums for the tournament.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have both carried out investigations on the treatment of migrant workers, mostly from Nepal and India, who are considered to live and work in slave-like conditions.

Workers' rights has been a key concern surrounding Qatar 2022 ©AFP/Getty Images



Al Khater claimed Qatar 2022 was working with the organisations to improve conditions.

"Labour laws are mashed within these [other] laws, [it is] what happens in a country that progresses so quickly and population wise progresses so quickly," he said.

"I have to say Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, we work with them, I find them fantastic, they are very collaborative, they are very constructive, they are critical when they have to be and we like working with them."

Al Khater also told Al Jazeera Qatar was ready to host the World Cup "in the winter or summer of 2022", depending on the outcome of a FIFA decision into when it will be held if it does go ahead in the country.

The communications director added: "The Middle East had three attempts prior to ours, and this is just a continuation for us of trying an attempt to host the first World Cup in the Middle East and we've succeeded and therefore we stay committed to what we've said, that we want truly for this to be a World Cup that represents the Middle East, that people experience a Middle Eastern culture, not just the Qatari culture."

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