Garcia calls on Fifa to publicise full anti-corruption report
Sep 24, 2014 17:21:08
The author of a wide-ranging report into corrupt dealings in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding campaigns has called for his findings to be made entirely public
By Kris Voakes
The former US attorney who carried out an investigation into corruption during the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups has joined the clamour for his full report to be published by Fifa.
Michael Garcia was charged by the game's world governing body with the task of reviewing claims of underhand practices during the campaigns,which led to Russia and Qatar being chosen to host the two tournaments.
He completed the report and filed it with Fifa in early September, but Fifa stated upon receipt that not all of Garcia’s findings would be published.
“Pursuant to the Fifa Code of Ethics, the adjudicatory chamber will now make a final decision on the report and supplemental reports, including publication,” a Fifa statement confirmed.
But now Garcia has insisted that the more information published, the better for Fifa and for football following the revelation from the ethics committee’s adjudicatory chamber chairman Hans-Joachim Eckert that only he and his deputy will ever see the full report, with only the final decision likely to be made public.
"Given the limited role Mr. Hans-Joachim Eckert envisions for the adjudicatory chamber, I believe it is now necessary for the Fifa Executive Committee to authorise the appropriate publication of the report on the inquiry into the 2018/2022 Fifa World Cup Bidding Process,” Garcia said in a statement.
“Publication would be consistent with statements made by a number of Executive Committee members, with the view recently expressed by Independent Governance Committee Chair Mark Pieth, and with the goals of the reform process.”
Garcia’s statement comes hot on the heels of calls from several Fifa vice-presidents for the full report to be published.
Asia's Fifa vice-president Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein of Jordan released a statement, insisting: “In the interest of full transparency, I believe it is important that the much anticipated report on the ethics investigation that is crucial to ensuring good governance at Fifa is fully disclosed and open to the public.”
Jim Boyce of Northern Ireland and the Cayman Islands’ Jeffrey Webb have also come out in favour of the full disclosure of the report, while the president of US and Fifa ExCo member Sunil Gulati has added his weight behind the campaign.
“If we’re going to truly support the idea of transparency and change within Fifa, it has to be made public in the truest meaning of the word,” Gulati insisted.
Eckert has admitted final verdicts on the report’s contents are unlikely to be made before 2015.
