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 FIFA was plunged into chaos on Thursday when its ethics judge
Hans-Joachim Eckert said in a statement there were no grounds to
reopen the controversial bidding process which led to Russia being
given the 2018 World Cup and Qatar the 2022 finals.
But three hours later former U.S. prosecutor Michael Garcia, who led
the investigation over an 18-month period, said Eckert's 42-page
statement had misrepresented his 430-page report and that he would
take the case to the FIFA appeal committee.
FIFA confirmed on Friday it had received Garcia's appeal and said it
could not comment further. The FIFA disciplinary code states that if
a case is rejected by the appeal committee, it can then be taken to
the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
FIFA and Qatar World Cup organizers have been fending off
allegations of corruption ever since the Gulf state was awarded the
2022 tournament.
Qatar, which has repeatedly denied the allegations, has also been
criticized over its treatment of migrant workers in the construction
industry.
 Eckert told Reuters in Munich that he was surprised by Garcia's
reaction.
"Usually you would first speak to each other internally if you don't
like something," he said, adding that he had not been able to get in
touch with Garcia.
"It could be a misunderstanding after all," he suggested.
FIFA presidential candidate Jerome Champagne led the calls for
Garcia's report to be published in full.
ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE
"The events that unfolded yesterday between 10am and 1pm were
absolutely incredible," he told Reuters. "I was in FIFA for 11 years
and have never seen anything like that. It was, as they say in
Hollywood, larger than life.
"The report should be published, with the necessary redactions. I
can only regret that these two objectives have not been met, that
these two goals have not been scored."
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Sylvia Schenk, for anti-corruption watchdog Transparency
International, agreed.
“FIFA needs to understand that a simple summary of an investigation
will not draw a line under the allegations surrounding the awarding
of the World Cups. Transparency International calls for the full
report to be published immediately," she said.
Mark Pieth, a former head of FIFA's independent governance committee
who recommended a number of reforms for soccer’s world governing
body, said there were cultural differences between the two judges.
"You have to see that Eckert thinks like a German criminal court
judge and Garcia, however, is dominated by American ways of doing
things," he told the Neuer Zuercher Zeitung.
"Eckert needs, for example, 80 percent certainty to determine a
fact. For Garcia 50 percent is sufficient.
"For it to be credible, one would have to know the arguments of both
sides so that a judgment can be possible. We now know only one side.
I repeat: Garcia's report should be published."
Pieth added that FIFA had jumped the gun on Thursday when, almost
immediately after publishing Eckert's statement, it announced that
"a degree of closure has been reached", only for Garcia to hit out a
few hours later.
"That's the most stupid thing you can say at that moment," said
Pieth. "If the investigator is dissatisfied with the report, you
have to wait and analyze, certainly not celebrate triumph."
(Reporting by Joern Poltz in Munich and Mike Collett in London;
Editing by Ken Ferris)
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