FIFA ethics committee investigator Michael Garcia has completed his
probe into the controversial bidding process for the 2018 and 2022
World Cups, awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively, and handed in a
350-page report.
The report, which has not been made public, will be submitted to the
ethics committee's adjudicatory chamber, headed by German judge
Hans-Joachim Eckert, to decide on whether any wrongdoing was
committed, soccer's governing body said on Friday.
FIFA said they could not comment on when Eckert might reach his decision.
(Photo: Fifa president Joseph Blatter AFP)
During the course of the year-long investigation, Garcia and his
deputy Cornel Borbely 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.
"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."
The hosting rights for the two tournaments were awarded simultaneously
by FIFA's executive committee in Zurich in 2010 after a turbulent
campaign.
Spain/Portugal, Belgium/Netherlands and England had also been bidding
for 2018 while United States, Australia, South Korea and Japan had bid
for 2022.
The executive committee which took the decision was reduced to 22
members instead of the usual 24 after two of them were suspended by
the ethics committee one month before the vote.
Nigerian Amos Adamu was banned for breaches of five articles of FIFA's
ethics code including one on bribery and Reynald Temarii of Tahiti for
breaching articles on general conduct and loyalty.
The case followed allegations by The Sunday Times that the pair
offered to sell their votes to undercover reporters posing as
lobbyists for an American consortium.
FIFA said that all bidding nations were interviewed during the investigation.
Borbely took responsibility obtaining information from the U.S and
Russia as Garcia is a national of the former and was barred from
visiting the latter.
Shortly before this year's World Cup in Brazil, the Sunday Times
reported that some of the "millions of documents" it had seen linked
payments by former FIFA executive committee member Mohamed Bin Hammam
to officials to win backing for Qatar's World Cup bid.
Bin Hammam has not commented on his involvement since he was banned
for life from soccer in 2012 and Qatar has denied all allegations of
corruption.
Qatar has also been criticised for its alleged treatment of migrant
workers in the construction industry.
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