Fifa’s criminal complaint
OOTBALL’S world governing body Fifa has lodged a criminal complaint with the Swiss attorney-general over “possible misconduct” by individuals in connection with the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
It follows a recommendation by Fifa’s ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert as part of his final summary of the Michael Garcia investigation into the controversial awarding of the World Cups to Qatar and Russia.
“This criminal complaint has been lodged today,” Fifa said. “The subject of the criminal complaint is the possible misconduct of individual persons in connection with the awarding of the hosting rights of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups investigated by Michael Garcia, chairman of the investigatory chamber of the Fifa Ethics Committee.
“In particular there seem to be grounds for suspicion that, in isolated cases, international transfers of assets with connections to Switzerland took place, which merit examination by the criminal prosecution authorities.”
Garcia, a former New York federal prosecutor, spent 18 months investigating the bidding process for the two tournaments.
Fifa last week published a summary of Garcia’s report and cleared Qatar and Russia of corruption, and ruled out a re-vote for the tournaments despite widespread allegations of wrongdoing.
Garcia slammed that version of his report as “incomplete and erroneous”, and has lodged an appeal.
The Garcia report will be handed over to the attorneygeneral’s office by Eckert, but he and Blatter remain adamant the report cannot be published.
FBlatter said: “There is no change to judge Eckert’s statement that the investigation into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 Fifa World Cups is concluded.
“The matter will now also be looked at by an independent, state body, which shows that Fifa is not opposed to transparency.”
Asked about the publication of the report, he added: “If Fifa were to publish the report, we would be violating our own association law as well as state law. The people who are demanding in the media and elsewhere that Fifa publish the report are obviously of the opinion that Fifa should, or must, ignore the law in this regard.”
Greg Dyke, the chairman of England’s Football Association, said he had written to every member of Fifa’s executive committee calling for “urgent action” to ensure Garcia’s report into World Cup bidding was published in full.
Dyke’s letter said: “As you probably know the reputation of Fifa was already low in England and much of Europe before the events of last week.
“The failure to publish Mr Garcia’s report, and his statement that the summary report which was published contained ‘numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations’, has resulted in a further decline in public confidence of Fifa. We cannot go on like this.
“Complete transparency is required if the actions of all those who bid are to be judged fairly.”
Dyke added that critical media reports about Fifa and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar could not be brushed aside.
“The reports…provide compelling evidence of wrongdoing. They cannot be simply dismissed as ‘racist’ or ‘an attack on Fifa’, as Mr Blatter described them at the Fifa Congress in Brazil.”
Meanwhile, two whistleblowers insisted that Eckert’s summary of Garcia’s findings meant it was easy for each of them to be identified.
Phaedra Almajid, who worked for the Qatar 2022 bid team before losing her job in 2010, said she had been let down over promises her identity would be protected – assurances that had been central to her decision to co-operate with Garcia’s investigation.
Both Almajid and Bonita Mersiades, who worked for Australia’s unsuccessful 2022 World Cup bid, have separately registered formal complaints against Eckert.
Almajid said her safety and that of her sons had been compromised. – Sapa-AFP