It ‘was the same Fifa, setting the stage for a spectacular own goal, to instruct the attorney Michael Garcia, head of the Office Investigation of the Ethics Commission, to investigate suspicions that bribes were racing millionaires in the allocation of World Cup in Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022). And Garcia – dusted off his past as a district attorney in New York, an expert in the fight against corruption – took the task very seriously, making it clear from the beginning that, if necessary, would not hesitate to step on some toes important .
Like the time he showed up unannounced, asking to hear the senior members of the Executive Committee who had voted for the allocation of the two editions of the World Cup. To frame the character may be useful to recall when, in an interview, he was convinced that his task was to investigate “every official, from first to last, to find who is guilty of reprehensible conduct … no one is above the code of ethics. ” The decision to entrust such a delicate subject in Garcia had actually surprised more than one within the same Fifa. But now the hound had set to work with his team. Digging, interviewing, gathering evidence and testimonies on the rumored attribution of the World Cup to Russia and Qatar, to the detriment of claimants ‘strong’ as Spain and the United States.
Two years of investigation to present – in September 2014 – a report of 430 pages (plus 200 thousand of attachments). Which, at least officially, in very few have been able to read in full, it has been covered by secret despite the insistence of the same Garcia, officially to protect the privacy of 75 witnesses named. The little that he knows is condensed into 42 pages disclosed last November by the will of the German Hans-Joachim Eckert, chairman of the judging body Fifa. Depending The Commission found that the allocation to Russia and Qatar there were aspects “doubts”, but serious irregularities. So “no he is looking back.” Read the report “incomplete, incorrect and incomplete, both in practice and in the conclusions,” the angry reaction to the investigator. Which in December it filed an appeal against the conclusions drawn up by FIFA, starting from his relationship. Appeals that FIFA ruled inadmissible, causing the resignation of Garcia, criticism on “lack of leadership” within the FIFA. Words that many have interpreted as a dig directed to President Blatter. It seemed to end there. Instead the stubborn Garcia had already decided to bring his FBI file.
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