Fifa to publish graft report
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Fifa to publish graft report

MARRAKECH — Fifa's executive committee has voted to allow publication of an investigative report into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, president Sepp Blatter said on Friday.

However, football's governing body would not reopen bids for the two tournaments, Blatter insisted.

Fifa has been under increasing pressure to publish a redacted version of the report by former ethics investigator Michael Garcia to help shed light on what happened during the turbulent process for the tournaments awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively.

Fifa said in a statement that it had asked the Adjudicatory Chamber of the Independent Ethics Committee to publish the report in "an appropriate form" once ongoing procedures against individuals are concluded.

"I am pleased they have agreed. It has been a long process to arrive at this point and I understand the views of those who have been critical," Blatter said.

"We have always been determined that the truth should be known. That is, after all, why we set up an independent Ethics Committee with an investigatory chamber that has all necessary means to undertake investigations on its own initiative."

The decision followed a presentation by Domenico Scala, head of Fifa's audit and compliance committee and one of only six people to have seen the report.

Garcia, who said himself that the report should be published, spent 18 months investigating allegations of corruption in the bidding process, during which he interviewed 75 witnesses.

In November, Fifa's ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert issued a 42-page summary based on Garcia's report which identified cases of "inappropriate conduct" in a number of the bids but said there was not enough evidence to justify reopening the bidding process.

Among the figures alleged to have been involved in irregularities is Fifa executive committee member Worawi Makudi of Thailand.

Five officials, including three Fifa executive committee members, are being investigated in the corruption probe into the bidding contests for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

"I am innocent and will sue all parties which cause damage to my reputation," the Football Association of Thailand chief said last month.

The Telegraph in London has reported that Worawi could be investigated over his alleged involvement in a gas deal between Thailand’s PTT Plc and Qatar shortly before the vote in 2010.

"This is an old issue. I have already cleared up all allegations," Worawi said.

Qatargas in 2012 signed a deal with PTT to deliver two million tonnes of liquefied natural gas to Thailand. The contract had nothing to with Worawi, PTT said.

Worawi was also accused in Parliament in Britain to have sought favours from England's failed 2018 bid. He denied the claims, which a Fifa ethics panel dismissed in 2011 before Garcia and Eckert were appointed.

In Friday's statement, Blatter reiterated that the bidding process for the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups would not be reopened.

"We will not revisit the 2018 and 2022 vote and a report by independent, external legal experts commissioned by Mr Scala supports the view that there are no legal grounds to revoke the Executive Committee's decision on the award of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups," he said.

Garcia, who immediately appealed against the summary of his investigation, saying it contained misrepresentations, resigned on Wednesday, one day after a Fifa tribunal ruled his application to be inadmissable.

Fifa had previously said it could not publich the 430-page report for legal reasons.

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