By Andrew Warshaw
March 6 – FIFA’s new chief ethics investigator insists he will not be influenced or sidetracked by anyone within the heirarchy of football’s world governing body when it comes to making independent decisions – including FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
Switzerland’s Cornel Borbely (piictured) has succeeded US attorney Michael Garcia, who quit in December in protest at the treatment and interpretation of his comprehensive report into potential corruption into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process.
Garcia’s report has never been published – though it is expected to be in redacted form in the near future. Speculation has been rife, albeit unproven, that FIFA in some way orchestrated a cover-up in order to protect itself.
But Borbely, who was Garcia’s deputy, said no-one at FIFA, from the top down, would tell him what to do when it comes to imposing sanctions.
“I don’t take any orders at all from FIFA, none whatsoever,” he said. “I alone decide whether to open, conduct and conclude an investigation.
“I am completely independent of any FIFA officials, otherwise I couldn’t, and wouldn’t, do this job. Nobody interferes, neither the FIFA executive committee nor anybody else.”
Dismissing any suggestion that he will act at Blatter’s behest, Borbely told Reuters: “This is absurd and any such claim is not founded in any facts that I could comprehend or cite. I can only emphasise that I am not an employee of FIFA.”
“I can’t disclose details of how often I have met with Sepp Blatter, but my contacts with him are limited to purely professional encounters. He has no authority to give directives to me.”
Although confidentiality, or lack of it, was flagged up as being a major flaw in Garcia’s investigation, Borbely implied the same would not happen while he was in charge.
Anyone coming forward with information about alleged corruption could do so in confidence, with tip-offs “carefully evaluated”.
“I also have my eyes and ears open and if I see something that calls for it, of course I open a preliminary investigation,” he said.
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