FIFA presidential hopeful Prince Ali bin Al Hussein has called for the immediate publication of Michael Garcia’s report on alleged bribery and corruption during bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
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The Jordanian prince made the remarks at the Dubai International Sports Conference alongside UEFA general-secretary Gianni Infantino, another candidate in the race to be elected the head of world football’s governing body on February 26.
Prince Ali urged FIFA to have “some basic norms, like publishing the Garcia report immediately, because even those who are running for the position of FIFA president… need to know what has been going on in this organisation, and the public needs to know as well.”
“We have one last chance to save FIFA.” Prince Ali, at the 10th Dubai International Sports Confrence pic.twitter.com/705CIyn47W
— Prince Ali (@AliForFIFA) December 27, 2015
Former US prosecutor Garcia resigned as FIFA’s chief corruption investigator last year in protest at the body’s handling of his report on the decisions to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.
Garcia said he had found “serious and wide-ranging issues” in the bidding process for both of the World Cups. He had complained that a summary of his report released by FIFA’s Hans-Joachim Eckert, was “incomplete and erroneous”.
Eckert had insisted there was no evidence of corruption and that there should be no new vote on the venue for the tournaments. FIFA has said it would only be able to publish Garcia’s report after various individual investigations were wrapped up and by respecting a promise to all those who gave evidence on condition of anonymity.
“There have been a lot of proposals for reform within FIFA, but the main issue is not the proposals themselves, but the implementation of these proposals,” added Prince Ali, who also reiterated his calls for a maximum of two terms for future FIFA presidents.
UEFA president Michel Platini – who was also at the conference – and FIFA chief Sepp Blatter were suspended by FIFA’s ethics committee over a 2 million Swiss franc payment made to Platini in 2011.
Corruption charges against the two men were dropped by the FIFA court, but they were found guilty of “abusive execution” of their powers and a conflict of interests. Infantino called for “transparency in the money flows” which is “the single most important reform decision from FIFA.”
