FIFA Corruption Report - ExCo Members, Bid Officials May Face Sanctions

(ATR) FIFA's corruption chief Michael Garcia recommends punishing "certain individuals" in his report on ethics violations in the 2018/2022 World Cup bidding process.

Guardar
View at the FIFA World
View at the FIFA World Football Association headquaters in Zurich, on October 20, 2010. FIFA has summoned senior Nigerian and Oceanian officials Amos Adamu and Reynald Temarii to a committee meeting which is investigating allegations of votes being sold in World Cup bidding. AFP PHOTO / SEBASTIAN DERUNGS (Photo credit should read SEBASTIAN DERUNGS/AFP/Getty Images)

(ATR) FIFA's corruption chief Michael Garcia recommends punishing "certain individuals" in his report on ethics violations in the 2018/2022 World Cup bidding process.

World football's governing body said on Friday that the head of its ethics investigation chamber and deputy chairman Cornel Borbély had today submitted their 350-page to FIFA's ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert.

Borbély delivered separate supplemental reports covering his review of activities of the U.S. and Russia bid teams.

Former US attorney Garcia did not investigate the activities of the USA bid for 2022 due to conflict of interest reasons. He was on a list of Americans banned from entering Russia over alleged human-rights violations, blacklisted for his former role as a prosecutor in sentencing Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

"Over the course of this year-long investigation, the investigatory chamber interviewed more than 75 witnesses and compiled a record that, in addition to audio recordings from interviews, includes more than 200,000 pages of relevant material," FIFA said in its statement.

"The report sets forth detailed factual findings; reaches conclusions concerning further action with respect to certain individuals; identifies issues to be referred to other FIFA committees; and makes recommendations for future bidding processes."

FIFA recently confirmed to Around the Rings that Garcia’s report would not be made public.

FIFA added: "The adjudicatory chamber will now make afinal decision on the report and supplemental reports, includingpublication."

Eckert is expected to spend at last a week or two studying Garcia's recommendations before casting his verdict.

The German may be guided by FIFA president Sepp Blatter to announce sanctions before or during the inaugural World Summit on Ethics, which takes place at the federation's headquarters in Zurich on Sept. 19.

The 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding contest was mired in corruption scandals, the biggest in FIFA’s history. They sparked a reform process that concluded earlier this year.

Two FIFA Exco members were suspended ahead of the December 2010 vote, leaving 22 officials to award hosting rights to Russia and Qatar. The decision sparked an immediate backlash from some of the other bids, who criticised the bidding process and pointed to a FIFA evaluation report that highlighted the risks involved in handing the World Cups to Russia and Qatar compared to the other seven bids.

The awarding of the World Cup to Qatar has come under particular scrutiny over the past four years following a wave of cash-for-votes allegations and corruption claims published by the Sunday Times newspaper. Qatar 2022 denies all the allegations.

Reported byMark Bisson.

For general comments or questions,click here.

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics isAroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.

Guardar

Recent Articles

Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons

Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.

Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came

Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024

She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.

Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa

Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris

Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.

Rugby 7s: the best player

Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years

The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.

Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the

Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”

The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.

Katie Ledecky spoke about doping