FIFA says it will no longer make Garcia Qatar World Cup bid report public

According to a report on the website of the World Football Insider, FIFA will no longer release to the public details about the potential ethics violations committed in the World Cup bidding process last year. It could be recalled that the winners of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournament hosting rights elicited outcry from non-winners as rumors of alleged bribery and corruption hounded the bidding process.

Supposedly, the Guardian said that FIFA's ethics committee co-chaired by Michael Garcia, who is also the lead investigator in the report, would be releasing the results of the investigation by the end of July. However, it appears that FIFA has decided to keep the report for internal use only. However, the report said that only the final decision of the world soccer body's adjudicatory chamber could be made public. It is to note that Garcia has spent over 18 months investigating allegations that there have been vote trading and breaches in FIFA ethics during the bidding process of awarding the tournament hosting rights. Russia has secured the rights to host the next World Cup, which will be in 2018, while Qatar is set to play host in 2022.

A FIFA spokesman was quoted as saying regarding the update on the ethics committee report, "We have no update concerning the delivery of the report of the investigatory chamber of the independent ethics committee. Please note that in accordance with art 28 and 36 of the Fifa Code of Ethics the report will be handed over to the adjudicatory chamber but only the final decision of the adjudicatory chamber may be made public."

If the public, or at the very least, the non-winning countries like Australia and the US, would be satisfied with the final decision, the announcement would have to wait until FIFA ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckhart makes any rulings regarding the matter in August or September this year, the Guardian added.

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FIFA, FIFA ethics committee, Qatar World Cup bid controversy, World Cup bidding process, World Cup bid probe results

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