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Fortune
Fortune
Chloe Taylor

Qatar offered EU lawmakers free World Cup tickets and other lavish gifts to try to improve human rights image

Qataris gather at the capital Doha's traditional Souq Waqif market as the official logo of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is projected on the front of a building on September 3, 2019. (Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Free tickets, fully paid trips overseas, and other valuable goods were reportedly offered to European politicians by Qatar ahead of the World Cup, as the Gulf state tried to persuade lawmakers to relax their language on the country’s human rights record.

As Qatar sought to improve its public image, the country’s officials in Brussels approached EU lawmakers with offers of lavish gifts, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

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