Talks over whether to publish Michael Garcia’s report into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, will take place next week in Marrakesh when FIFA’s executive committee is expected to vote on whether to release more of the report.
So far, just a 42-page summary of the reporthas been released by ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, who claimed that confidentiality rules prevented him from releasing the full report.
Britain’s Telegraph newspaper claimed Germany’s Theo Zwanziger wanted a redacted version of the full ethics committee report to protect the identities of witnesses who co-operated with the probe.
Zwanziger, a FIFA exco member, has proposed that Article 36 of the code of ethics, which currently restrains publication, could be amended to enable a partial publication of the report.
After Eckert and Garcia disputed how much information to make public, the matter was passed on to Domenico Scala, the independent chairman of FIFA’s audit and compliance committee. Scala is expected to brief members during next week’s session.
FIFA included Zwanziger’s proposal in its agenda for the meeting on Thursday and Friday and Zwaniger told the Germany press agency DPA: “I would like to see this ban relaxed so that the FIFA executive committee, as well as the public, in an appropriate form can be informed of the contents of the investigation.”
Zwanziger is known to be a staunch opponent of the World Cup being awarded to Qatar.
He previous stated it was “one of the biggest mistakes ever in the history of sport” and suggested in September it will be moved away from the country due to the scorching heat.
