September 19 – The man who will deliver verdicts following the report into the World Cup bidding investigation has re-iterated that he will try and make public any sanctions by November – and meanwhile keep the files secret.
FIFA’s German ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert told an ethics in sport meeting today that he had set a target of the ”end of October, beginning of November” to finish his work on the 2018 and 2022 contests, won by Russia and Qatar, respectively.
”I understand it is urgent,” Eckert told delegates at the conference hosted by FIFA.
Although he can impose sanctions against members of the FIFA executive committee who voted in the December 2010 ballots, it is unclear what action, if any, he could take or recommend against any of the nine bidding candidates.
Eckert revealed that only four people have seen the report drawn up by FIFA’s investigative chief Michael Garcia – himself, Garcia, and their deputies, Australian judge Alan Sullivan and Swiss prosecutor Cornel Borbely.
”No-one else has seen it. You can also rest assured that we as professionals know how to safeguard the report in order not to give anyone access to it,” he told delegates.
“There is an obligation for secrecy and we will comply with this. I have read in the media that FIFA had access. FIFA and bodies of FIFA have not got this report and that’s the way it was meant to be – just to be clear about this.”
Garcia, a former US Attorney, and his investigators drew up their 350-page report after quizzing officials involved in the bid campaigns that were marred by allegations of bribery and voting collusion after being held simultaneously.
“Of course I know that the media say: ‘We want to know what there was,’ and you will know …” said Eckert, “but the persons potentially affected deserve to have their privacy protected because we have to presume people are not guilty.”
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