body-container-line-1

FIFA VP calls for Garcia probe to be published

By nzherald
Sports News FIFA VP calls for Garcia probe to be published
SEP 23, 2014 LISTEN

Key parts of an investigation into allegations of World Cup bid corruption should be published, according to FIFA vice president Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein of Jordan.

Prince Ali added his voice Tuesday to calls that FIFA should lift the secrecy about a case which could see some of his executive committee colleagues punished for their conduct in the 2018 and 2022 bid contests won by Russia and Qatar.

"The entire football family and those who follow the game worldwide have a full right to know the contents of the report in the spirit of complete openness," the prince said in a statement.

Michael Garcia, the independent prosecutor appointed by FIFA who is leading the investigation, also wants to ease confidentiality rules which keep all his work secret.

He delivered initial reports this month to FIFA ethics judge Joachim Eckert, who said he expects to give verdicts early next year.

However, the code states that "only the final decisions already notified to the addressees may be made public."

Challenging that strict limit, Prince Ali said the "main findings should also be fully disclosed to the general public."

He added that the 27 FIFA board members must see all the work carried out by Garcia's team's currently 430 pages of documents.

"In the interest of full transparency and openness, I believe it is important that the much anticipated report on the ethics investigation that is crucial to ensuring good governance at FIFA is fully disclosed to the FIFA executive committee," Prince Ali said.

Garcia has sought to quiz the 12 current FIFA board members who were involved in the December 2010 votes.

At a FIFA-hosted ethics conference last week, Garcia called for reviewing secrecy rules that were written into the ethics code before he was appointed in 2012.

"I think that is a disservice in many ways because people are skeptical and want information," the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York said last Friday.

Garcia compared FIFA's reputation for transparency unfavorably with his former office in Manhattan which he said was trusted by the public.

"But I doubt we would have enjoyed that confidence if we couldn't announce who had been charged with what," Garcia said.

body-container-line