RELEASE THE REPORT NOW
Whistleblowers pile pressure on FIFA
Sepp Blatter has come under even greater pressure to release Michael Garcia’s full report on corruption within FIFa amid accusations of a whitewash after further revelations emerged yesterday.
Fresh details s eri ously undermining the conclusion drawn by FIFa’s ethics judge Hans- Joachim eckert were made public in separate reports, detailing how whistleblowers have been vilified and testimonies ignored.
eckert’s summary of Garcia’s findings exonerated Qatar of any wrongdoing in winning the bid to host the 2022 World Cup — but it has been disclosed how two women who provided evidence of illicit activities came under attack.
It was also reported that another witness, with first-hand knowledge of Qatar’s Mohamed Bin Hammam breaking FIFa rules by offering to swap votes, was never contacted.
Garcia, a former US attorney, is already appealing against eckert’s analysis of his work.
eckert gave Qatar a clean bill of health after dismissing evidence from two individuals detailing corruption as inaccurate and unreliable. Bonita Mersiades, an insider on the australia 2022 campaign, and phaedra almajid, who worked on the Qatar bid, gave information that proved key to Garcia concluding there were indications of ‘problematic conduct’ by both nations.
Both told the Mail on Sunday that the summary by eckert shows ‘ the culture of silence is rewarded’ at world football’s governing body and that his words are a ‘deliberate denigration of two women who have been courageous enough to say something’.
Mersiades was the head of corporate and public affairs within the australian bid, giving her access to all areas. She told Garcia how FIFa executive committee (exCo) voters s ought financial incentives for projects they controlled — and that australia provided money. Mersiades branded eckert’s conclusion as ‘high comedy’.
almajid was one of the first employees on Qatar’s bid, as head of international media until 2010.
In eckert’s own words she ‘provided voluminous records’ during a year of giving testimony, but he then claimed there were ‘ serious concerns’ about her credibility.
‘My reaction to the way I was singled out in eckert’s summary was shock, then rage,’ she said. ‘Knowing FIFa, I should not have been surprised.’
almajid was cast aside by eckert because she had previously made s eri ous accusations about exCo voters and then retracted them. But yesterday, she revealed how Qatar threatened to sue her for £640,000 ($1m) — enough to ruin her financially — forcing her to sign an affidavit retracting her criticisms.
‘I was completely alone in trying to fight off the Qataris,’ she said. ‘I needed to protect the welfare of my kids and I signed.’
the highly-pressurised circumstances of almajid’s retraction are not noted by eckert.
In the German’s 42- page summary of Garcia’s 430-page report, he acknowledges concerns over Qatar’s bid, calling them ‘problematic facts’, but claims the integrity of the process was not affected.