FBI will investigate corruption allegations against senior members of FIFA after World Cup bidding probe is slammed by report's author who says it's been misrepresented U.S. investigators press ahead with their own three-year corruption probe Comes as FIFA's own probe into 2018 and 2022 bids descended into farce FIFA judge had earlier cleared the way for Qatar and Russia to hold events Launched stinging attack on England's doomed bid for 2018 competition But FIFA's own investigator says report summary was misrepresentative By Charles Sale for the Daily Mail and Simon Tomlinson for MailOnline Published: 16:19 GMT, 13 November 2014 | Updated: 18:38 GMT, 13 November 2014 The FBI today vowed to press ahead with its corruption probe into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids despite the sport's world governing body saying there's no case to answer. It came as FIFA's probe into the controversial bids was thrown into turmoil when its own investigator complained that a summary of his report woefully misrepresented his findings. A FIFA judge had earlier cleared Russia and Qatar to host their respective tournaments despite widespread allegations of wrongdoing, while launching a stinging attack on England's doomed bid. But the report's author, Michael Garcia, has spoken out to accuse Hans-Joachim Eckert of presiding over an 'incomplete and erroneous' version of his conclusions. He plans to appeal. Meanwhile, U.S. investigators revealed they were moving ahead with their own investigation into corruption allegations, including the 2018 and 2022 bidding process. The three-year investigation could result in charges against senior FIFA officials, law enforcement sources told CNN. It reportedly includes the co-operation of a former top FIFA figure who has provided documents and recordings of meetings with colleagues. FBI agents based in New York are now looking to gain access to Mr Garcia's report, which has not yet been released by FIFA. The FBI declined to comment FIFA clear Qatar and Russia of wrongdoing during their World... In his ruling earlier today, Hans-Joachim Eckert, chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA's independent ethics committee, cleared the way for Qatar and Russia to hold their tournaments. But to the fury of the English FA and MPs, he also launched a stinging attack on England's doomed bid for the 2018 event. Reserving his strongest language for the England campaign, he reprimanded its attempts to woo the support of disgraced former committee member Jack Warner. He also criticised England for a $55,000 (£35,000) sponsorship of a gala dinner, while letting Qatar off lightly for a similar $1.8million (£1.1million) deal. But Michael Garcia, a former New York federal prosecutor who spent 18 months investigating the controversial bids, claimed the findings contained a number of errors. In a statement, he said: 'Today's decision by the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions detailed in the investigatory chamber's report. 'I intend to appeal this decision to the FIFA Appeal Committee.' In his summary, Mr Eckert had revealed that the investigation had not yielded evidence of corruption and there would be no re-vote on awarding the tournaments to Qatar and Russia. The report admitted that even though there had been a series of worrying episodes in the bidding for the 2022 tournament, as well as the 2018 World Cup in Russia, there was not enough evidence to justify reopening the process. 'The report identified certain occurrences that were suited to impair the integrity of the 2018/2022 World Cups bidding process,' said the 42-page report. But it added: 'The occurrences at issue were, in the chairman's assessment, only of very limited scope. 'In particular, the effects of these occurrences on the bidding process as a whole were far from reaching any threshold that would require returning to the bidding process, let alone reopening it. 'The assessment of the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cups bidding process is therefore closed for the FIFA ethics committee.' However, the English FA was accused of 'violating bidding rules' in its attempt to win the right to stage the 2018 event which also included joint bids from Belgium/Netherlands and Portugal/Spain. It alleges that in an attempt to 'curry favour' with Trinidad and Tobago official Jack Warner, who was believed to control a block of FIFA executive votes, the England bid team contravened bidding rules. England 2018 is accused of helping 'a person of interest to (Warner) find a part-time job in the UK' and sponsoring a gala dinner for the Caribbean Football Union at a cost of $55,000 (£35,000). The FA rejected the criticisms, in a statement on their website. 'We do not accept any criticism regarding the integrity of England's bid or any of the individuals involved.' FA chairman Greg Dyke said: 'Questions still need to be answered. If you read that report it says all the bids were assessed. The one that was the highest risk was Qatar and they won, and it doesn't take us any further forward on why they won. 'I still don't understand why the 2022 World Cup was given to Qatar when it was quite clear from FIFA's own technical committee that said it would be high risk. I don't understand it any more than I understood it then.' Former England 2018 chief operating officer, Simon Johnson said: 'It is a politically-motivated whitewash and I am not sure how we can have confidence in the outcome of this report. 'The headlines today end up being about the England bid when it should be about how it has exonerated Qatar, which has overseen the deaths of hundreds of migrant workers and which has been described by the US government as funding terrorist organisations. 'In relation to England's bid, I was satisfied at all times that we complied with the rules of the ethics code. We also gave full and transparent disclosure to the investigation which many others did not do. 'All these things are being said about England when the investigation was set up around the terrible allegations about corruption involving Qatar.' He added later on BBC 5 Live: 'It beggars belief. It's no surprise to me this entire report is being treated with huge scepticism.' 'We conducted a transparent bid and, as the report demonstrates with its reference to the England bid team's 'full and valuable cooperation', willingly complied with the investigation. 'We maintain that transparency and cooperation around this entire process from all involved is crucial to its credibility. 'We also note that after a lengthy investigatory process and assessment, the report has concluded that the 'potentially problematic facts and circumstances identified by the report regarding the England 2018 bid were, all in all, not suited to compromise the integrity of the FIFA World Cup 2018/22 bidding process as a whole'.' Labour's Shadow Sports Minister Clive Efford added on Sky Sports News: You couldn't make it up, could you? FIFA investigating themselves. 'To achieve credibility they must publish the full report ... if Michael Garcia himself is suggesting that this is less than frank, then the only way to prove one or the other right is to publish the whole thing ... FIFA can't have it their own way, they brought in Garcia to have this investigation and he is entitled to have his report made public.' And Conservative MP Damian Collins said FIFA's report is a whitewash, adding: 'FIFA are trying to con people that there has been a proper independent inquiry when there hasn't been'. The FA considered their bid for the 2018 World Cup to be the most transparent of the nine countries involved and the monies spent on the breaches of bidding regulations listed by Eckert are a fraction compared with Qatar's spending. Qatar, through former executive committee member Mohamed Bin Hammam, were said to have bought the vote of Tahiti's Reynald Temarii, president of the Oceania Football Confederation, by offering to pay his legal fees after Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...thor-says-s-misrepresented.html#ixzz3J5jITfie Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
I think from what has been said that Eckert's comments are from the script FIFA gave him before the investigation started...
