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FIFA found itself in big trouble again after the report on corruption in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process was questioned by Michael Garcia – the investigator who published the original report.
Both Qatar and Russia were earlier cleared to host the FIFA World Cup.
Garcia had conducted the investigation for two years. And after FIFA presented the report and cleared itself of any wrongdoing, Garcia said that the report “contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations”.
“Today's decision by the Chairman of the Adjudicatory Chamber contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions detailed in the Investigatory Chamber's report. I intend to appeal this decision to the FIFA Appeal Committee.” – Garcia
FIFA claimed the report cleared Russia and Qatar of any wrongdoings and that they would be allowed to host the World Cup in 2018 and 2022 respectively, while also accusing the English FA of breaking rules in the bidding process.
Garcia’s statement a slap in the face for FIFA
Just four hours after FIFA’s independent ethics adjudicator Hans-Joachim Eckert published the report, Garcia released his statement.
Eckert was appointed by FIFA to investigate claims of corruption and had based his judgement on Garcia’s report and his judgement is now being questioned.
Eckert came to the conclusion that bribes made by Mohamed Bin Hammam, the former Qatari Asian Football confederation president, could not be proved. It also said that several payments in millions of dollars to top football officials in Africa and a FIFA official Jack Warner were not related to the World Cup bidding process.
FBI step up pace of investigation
Meanwhile, investigators in the U.S. are speeding up their efforts in their corruption investigation of FIFA’s senior leaders.
The FBI is not taking the FIFA report into consideration and will continue their probe into the allegations. If they find solid proof, charges could be filed against senior FIFA officials.
The FBI have been investigating the corruption allegations for three years now and they now want to get access to Garcia’s report. FIFA have refused to make the report public so far as calls for it to be released continue.
British MP Clive Efford said: “Fifa has no choice but to publish Michael Garcia's report in full if it expects anyone to believe their claims that there has been no cover-up over allegations of corruption in the World Cup bidding process.”
