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Michael Garcia, the American lawyer who led the investigation into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup, has resigned from the FIFA Ethics Committee.on Wednesday.
The respected lawyer cited lack of leadership in FIFA as the reason behind his resignation. He also said he did not believe that his ethics committee colleague, German Judge Joachim Eckert, is investigating the process independently.
The 2018 World Cup hosting rights were awarded to Russia and Qatar were selected as the hosts of the 2022 World Cup. However, in July 2012, Michael Garcia was appointed to probe into the controversial bidding process of the hosting rights of the next two World Cups.
The American had submitted his findings in a 430-page report recently, which were released in a summary of just 42 pages and Garcia slammed that summary as erroneous, while FIFA said that his appeal was “not admissible”.
“Lost confidence in leadership at FIFA”
"(The) Eckert Decision made me lose confidence in the independence of the Adjudicatory Chamber, (but) it is the lack of leadership on these issues within FIFA that leads me to conclude that my role in this process is at an end. No independent governance committee, investigator, or arbitration panel can change the culture of an organization," Garcia wrote in his resignation statement.
"For the first two years, I felt that the ethics committee was making real progress in advancing ethics enforcement at FIFA," Garcia wrote. "In recent months, that changed.
"When viewed in the context of the report it purported to summarize, no principled approach could justify the Eckert Decision's edits, omissions, and additions”
To conclude, Garcia said, “It now appears that, at least for the foreseeable future, the Eckert Decision will stand as the final word on the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup bidding process.”
FIFA will meet in Morocco this week and will decide whether to release a full, redacted copy of Garcia's report.
