Ethics investigator challenges 'erroneous' version of his FIFA report

FIFA’s hopes of settling the uncertainty over the World Cup hosts were dealt a serious blow after chief ethics investigator Michael Garcia challenged the decision to clear Qatar and Russia to host the 2022 and 2018 tournaments.

US lawyer Garcia said he will lodge an appeal against the decision to clear Qatar and Russia to host the 2022 and 2018 World Cups due to “numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts”.

Football Association chairman Greg Dyke described the report as “a joke” and said the fact Garcia was appealing “made a mockery of the process”.

The furore came after the publication of the 42-page findings by German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA’s independent ethics committee, which effectively confirmed Qatar and Russia as hosts, stating he would not require the bidding process to be reopened.

Within hours Garcia issued a statement saying: “Today’s decision by the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions detailed in the investigatory chamber’s report.

“I intend to appeal this decision to the FIFA Appeal Committee.”

Eckert’s 42-page report does contain embarrassing details of England 2018’s attempts to woo disgraced former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner which “violated bidding rules” and included securing a job in the UK for a family friend of the controversial football figure.

Dyke said the report had lost any credibility, telling Sky Sports News: “[Garcia’s appeal] makes a mockery of the process.

“‘If the person who did the investigation said the report didn’t reflect what he believed then I’m a bit shocked by it all, as I’m sure most people are. It’s a bit of a joke though, the whole process.

”It’s undermined the whole process. If the person doing the investigation is saying: ’Actually, what they’re saying isn’t what I said’, (then) what’s the point of it?”

Eckert, who has previously ruled out publishing the Garcia report in full, said any rule breaches by the bidding countries were “of very limited scope”, adding: “In particular, the effects of these occurrences on the bidding process as a whole were far from reaching any threshold that would require returning to the bidding process, let alone reopening it.”

The findings make unpleasant reading for England 2018’s officials as their policy of bending over backwards to accommodate Warner was exposed.

The report states England 2018 also picked up the bill for a £35,000 gala dinner for Caribbean officials, provided “substantial assistance” for a training camp for an Under-20 Trinidad and Tobago team in 2009, while Warner also asked for favours for his Trinidad football club ’Joe Public FC’.

The report cleared Qatar of involvement in payments by Mohamed Bin Hammam, the Qatari former FIFA executive committee member who was banned for life by FIFA.

It says the payments to Warner and some African officials were more connected with Bin Hammam’s challenge to Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency in 2011.

Russia and Australia also came in for some criticism in the report. The Russians failed to provide copies of all their emails from the bid organisation on the basis that their computer equipment has since been scrapped.

Australia also made efforts to woo Warner and Oceania chief Reynald Temarii, including providing money for development projects which end up in Warner’s personal account.

The report fails to mention anything however about Spain/Portugal’s bid for 2018, which could lead to disciplinary action.