The bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups has taken a new
twist as football's world governing body FIFA lodged a criminal complaint with
the Swiss judiciary Tuesday.
The complaint relates to the
"international transfers of assets with connections to Switzerland, which
merit examination by the criminal prosecution authorities."
The FIFA statement added: "The subject
of the criminal complaint is the possible misconduct of individual persons in
connection with the awarding of the hosting rights of the 2018 and 2022 World
Cup."
FIFA lodged the complaint with the Attorney General of Switzerland
in Berne on the recommendation of German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert --
FIFA's independent ethics adjudicator.
"I lodged the criminal complaint upon
the recommendation of Judge Eckert," FIFA president Sepp Blatter said.
"I cannot, however, comment on any
possible criminal offenses. I am not a lawyer.
"I also was not the addressee of the
investigatory report, which I have never seen. However, given Judge Eckert's
recommendation, it was my duty -- as the President of FIFA -- to lodge the
complaint."
Eckert's recommendation was based on the
evidence compiled by Michael Garcia -- chairman of the investigatory chamber of
the FIFA Ethics Committee -- who has been examining the awarding of the hosting
rights of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
However Blatter insisted there was no change
to Eckert's statement "that the investigation into the bidding process for
the 2018 and 2022 World Cups is concluded."
Eckert, who is set to meet with Garcia on
Thursday to discuss the report, says he came across "indications that
pointed to suspected unlawful activity in connection with Switzerland."
He told FIFA's website: "In the circumstances, I saw
it as my duty to bring this to the FIFA President's attention and to recommend
to him that the Swiss criminal prosecution authorities be informed."
Eckert has been heavily criticized since publishing his 42-page summary
into Garcia's 18-month investigation last Friday.
The German told reporters last week that he
had been surprised by the strength of bad feeling surrounding his summary.
"I would like to point out that not once
did my statement involve a so-called "whitewashing" of the award
process with regard to the various allegations and assumptions made, contrary
to what has been claimed in some quarters," he said.
"My statement was based on the Garcia
report -- I can only work with the material contained in it, and in my view,
there was insufficient clear evidence of illegal or irregular conduct that
would call into question the integrity of the award process as a whole.
"However, in certain places, the report
does indicate that further clarification is needed of certain circumstances.
Much of this clarification work can be carried out by the FIFA Ethics Committee
itself, while the remainder is the responsibility of the relevant national
investigatory authorities."
With Garcia and Eckert set to discuss their
differences over the summary on Thursday, Kevin Carpenter, who specializes in
sports law for Kevin Hill Dickinson LLP, raised questions over the timing of
the announcement.
"It's interesting that Garcia said his
report had been misrepresented, yet Eckert decides to take evidence to the
Swiss judiciary now," he told CNN.
"Why lodge the criminal complaint given
they are meeting later this week?"
Carpenter also believes that Garcia, who has
appealed to FIFA's appeal committee over the findings in Eckert's summary,
could take his complaints further.
"Michael Garcia has referred the matter
to the appeals committee, but if his complaint is rejected he could then go to
the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which is extremely thorough and can look at
all the evidence.
"CAS' decision and reasoning would be
made public. Names would have to be redacted but it would be a way for the bulk
of his report -- the sections he believes to be most important coming into the
public domain."
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