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| Fifa widens access to World Cup report but refuses to make it public | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Fifa’s ethics committee has promised to widen the pool of people with access to its 430-page report into the controversial bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups following talks between its twin chairmen in Zurich. | |
| Michael Garcia, the US attorney who heads the investigatory arm of Fifa’s ethics committee, met with Hans-Joachim Eckert, the German judge who is chairman of the adjudicatory chamber, at Fifa’s headquarters a week after the former had disowned the latter’s summary of his £6m, 18-month probe. | Michael Garcia, the US attorney who heads the investigatory arm of Fifa’s ethics committee, met with Hans-Joachim Eckert, the German judge who is chairman of the adjudicatory chamber, at Fifa’s headquarters a week after the former had disowned the latter’s summary of his £6m, 18-month probe. |
| In a joint statement they said they would make Garcia’s full report available to Domenico Scala, the head of Fifa’s audit and compliance committee, who in turn would decide how much information should be made available to the full 26-strong Fifa executive committee. | In a joint statement they said they would make Garcia’s full report available to Domenico Scala, the head of Fifa’s audit and compliance committee, who in turn would decide how much information should be made available to the full 26-strong Fifa executive committee. |
| Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, has insisted the report cannot be published in full for legal reasons but several members of the executive committee, including the Concacaf president, Jeffrey Webb, the US Soccer Federation president, Sunil Gulati, and the Uefa president, Michel Platini, have called for full disclosure. | |
| “The investigatory chamber has already opened a number of formal cases against individuals as a result of that inquiry,” said Garcia and Eckert in a joint statement. “Neither the recent referral of the reports to the Swiss Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office nor the request to the chairman of the Fifa audit and compliance committee will interfere with those ongoing proceedings. | “The investigatory chamber has already opened a number of formal cases against individuals as a result of that inquiry,” said Garcia and Eckert in a joint statement. “Neither the recent referral of the reports to the Swiss Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office nor the request to the chairman of the Fifa audit and compliance committee will interfere with those ongoing proceedings. |
| “Both chairmen stressed the vital role of the Fifa ethics committee in ensuring the highest standards of ethics and governance at Fifa. Irrespective of the independence of the two chambers, the two chairmen regard good communication as key to fulfilling that role.” | “Both chairmen stressed the vital role of the Fifa ethics committee in ensuring the highest standards of ethics and governance at Fifa. Irrespective of the independence of the two chambers, the two chairmen regard good communication as key to fulfilling that role.” |
| Communication was in short supply in the runup to the publication of Eckert’s 42-page summary, which effectively cleared Russia and Qatar of serious wrongdoing and praised Fifa’s “robust” process. Garcia wanted as much of his full report published as possible and slammed Eckert’s summary as a misrepresentation of the facts and conclusions within it. | Communication was in short supply in the runup to the publication of Eckert’s 42-page summary, which effectively cleared Russia and Qatar of serious wrongdoing and praised Fifa’s “robust” process. Garcia wanted as much of his full report published as possible and slammed Eckert’s summary as a misrepresentation of the facts and conclusions within it. |
| While their decision makes it more likely more details from Garcia’s full report will seep out, it will do little to quell fears the process has been less than transparent. It also sets in train a bizarre set of circumstances in which the Fifa executive committee will be deciding what action to take against itself and former colleagues. | |
| Even if Garcia’s full conclusions do emerge, he was still hamstrung in his investigation by the fact he could not compel witnesses no longer in football to talk and had no power to seize emails or phone records. | Even if Garcia’s full conclusions do emerge, he was still hamstrung in his investigation by the fact he could not compel witnesses no longer in football to talk and had no power to seize emails or phone records. |
| The Russia 2018 bid claimed their computers had been destroyed after the bid and Garcia was unable to speak to six of the 11 members of the Fifa executive committee who have since quit football’s beleaguered governing body. | |
| The latest developments in the farcical saga came on day that began with a former Fifa ethics committee member claiming one of the executive committee asked for a $5m cash bribe during the bidding process. Les Murray, an Australian broadcaster, said an unnamed executive had asked for “hard cash” and he had passed his concerns to the committee. |