FIFA makes surprise move to publish report on 2018/22 world cup bidding race.
FIFA have published a controversial internal report into the bidding process after it was leaked to a German newspaper this week.
Last updated 28th Jun 2017
FIFA took the dramatic step of publishing a controversial internal report into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process after it was leaked to a German newspaper this week.
The drip feed of revelations was expected to continue only for FIFA to announce the new bosses of its independent ethics committee, chief investigator Maria Claudia Rojas and lead judge Vassilios Skouris, had taken the decision to publish the entire document via its website.
Borbely co-authored the report with Garcia and Eckert wrote a highly contentious 42-page "summary'' of the report which Garcia immediately disowned, before resigning.
After repeated claims about corruption in the run-up to those votes, FIFA asked its then-chief ethics investigator Garcia to compile a report into the bidding nations for both World Cups.
Among the first stories revealed by Bild were claims that the Qataris flew three members of FIFA's executive committee to a party in Rio on a private jet shortly before the vote, the Qatari bid used access to its state-of-the-art Aspire sports academy to influence voters and £1.6million was sent to a bank account belonging to the 10-year-old daughter of another ExCo voter.
The 39-page Russian section, penned by Borbely alone after Garcia recused himself, makes four key conclusions alongside one notable mitigation.
The conclusions did reference only partial compliance with reporting requirements on contact made with FIFA ExCo Members.
Despite this, "insufficient evidence was found in the documents made available and testimonies given suggesting that the Russia Bid Committee had attempted to unduly influence the Bidding Process''.
Attempts by the Russian team to access email accounts used contemporaneously proved unsuccessful after contact was made with Google Russia and Google USA.
Allegations attributed by a British newspaper to Lord Triesman, then chairman of the Football Association and England's 2018 bid, of collusion between Spain and Russia were also assessed, though Triesman himself - who resigned from both positions after the story broke - effectively disowned the claims.
The CEO of the Japan Bid Committee, Khozo Tashima, is quoted as making "a somewhat vague suggestion'' of a vote trading agreement with, and initiated by, Russia, but no corroboration was forthcoming from any documentation or testimony and Borbely cites "insufficient proof to reasonably confirm collusion between the Japan and Russia Bid Committees''.
A remarkable day, even by FIFA's recent standards, ended when the former independent ethics committee chiefs Borbely and Eckert issued a late statement to reject the governing body's claim that they were solely responsible for blocking the report's publication.
"Firstly, article 36 of the FIFA code of ethics obliges the members of the ethics committee to maintain confidentiality and prohibits the publication of information that could be used in the course of a procedure.