The FA has rejected the verdict of a FIFA ethics
committee investigation that it "broke bidding rules" in trying to woo "disgraced" former FIFA VP Jack Warner during its "ill-starred
bid to host the 2018 World Cup," according to Owen Gibson of the London GUARDIAN. A 42-page summary by German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert of an 18-month investigation by U.S. attorney Michael Garcia "paints a picture of a bid team going out of their way to accommodate ever more unreasonable requests from Warner." Eckert concluded, "England's response to Mr. Warner’s -- improper -- demands, in, at a minimum, always seeking to satisfy them in some way, damaged the integrity of the ongoing bidding process. Yet, such damage was again of rather limited extent." England’s strategy involved targeting the then-CONCACAF president in the belief he "controlled a crucial bloc of votes and extended to increasingly desperate attempts to woo him." Eckert said in his report, "Relevant occurrences included Mr. Warner pressing, in 2009 and again in 2010, England’s bid team to help a person of interest to him find a part-time job in the U.K." The entire report was labeled a "whitewash" by U.K. Conservative MP
Damian Collins, who has "long campaigned" for FIFA reform and used
"parliamentary privilege to make allegations about Qatar's bid" in '11. Collins: "It is a whitewash as it is an attempt to con people that there has
been a full and independent investigation when there has not been. ... This is FIFA investigating
itself and not surprisingly returning a verdict of not guilty." U.K. Deputy PM Nick Clegg called the conclusion "very surprising indeed, to put it mildly" (GUARDIAN, 11/13). The London TELEGRAPH reported the FIFA report also says that former FA Chair David Triesman, "who was England's bid chairman at the time, would not co-operate with the investigation despite Parliamentary privilege to make a number of allegations" (TELEGRAPH, 11/13).
CLOUD CAST OVER AUSTRALIA: The AAP reported FIFA's report said that Australia "tried bribes with
taxpayers' money and other dirty tricks" in a failed A$46M bid to
host the 2022 World Cup. The report also indicated that Football Federation Australia was "well aware of the
ramifications" of the bid team's conduct. No "proof was found of bribes or voting pacts." The independent ethics committee report found Australia's 2022 bid team
"attempted to divert funds the federal government had set aside" for
existing development projects in Africa "towards initiatives in
countries with ties to FIFA executive committee members with the
intention to advance its bid to host" (AAP, 11/13). In Sydney, Sebastian Hassett reported Australia received "considerable admonishment," with the bid's "efforts to gain the support of a FIFA executive committee member," investments into development programs in nations where exec committee members lived and contact with the notorious "bid consultants" -- Peter Hargitay and Fedor Radmann -- "all heavily criticised." The report said, "Certain devices employed by the bid team and its consultants were seemingly aimed at hiding ties with individuals close to the executive committee member concerned while taking advantage of their influence over the member to further the bid strategy." However, "while aspects of Australia's application were described as 'potentially problematic,'" the bid was "cleared of any overall
misconduct" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 11/13).
RUSSIA ACCUSED OF DESTROYING EVIDENCE: In London, Charles Sale reported 2018 World Cup host Russia has been "accused of destroying computers and emails in FIFA's investigation into the bidding process." The Russians "beat England to host the tournament in four years' time" but FIFA called Russia "highly unco-operative." Russia "made only a limited amount of documents available" to Garcia, "which they explained away by saying the computers used during the bid were leased and then returned to the owner and subsequently destroyed" (DAILY MAIL, 11/13). The London GUARDIAN reported Russia 2018 World Cup CEO Alexei Sorokin said that "everything we could supply to the investigation, we did," and added that the bid had "lost track of the rented computers after the process ended." Sorokin: "We are sure that our bid was transparent. We did not commit any violations. We were always sure that they would not find anything unlawful." Russia Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, speaking "before Garcia's protest" against the report summary, said, "I was sure that this is what would happen -- our bidding campaign was absolutely honest. We didn't play any games behind the scenes. I'm glad that this matter has finally been put to rest" (GUARDIAN, 11/13). In London, the Guardian's David Conn compiled a country-by-country summary of the committee's finding. A link to that summary is available here.
