Fifa Agrees To Release Garcia Report

Fifa executives have unanimously agreed to publish a "legally appropriate version" of a report into allegations of World Cup bidding corruption. However, world football's governing body insisted Russia and Qatar will stay as hosts of the 2018 and 2022 tournaments respectively. Fifa president Sepp Blatter said he asked the executive committee to vote in favour of publishing the report. "We have always been determined the truth should be known," he said. "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." So far, only a disputed summary of Michael Garcia's 430-page report into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups has been published. Releasing the full report, which is likely be heavily redacted to preserve witness confidentiality, is a change in Fifa policy. However, it will only be published once ongoing investigations into five individuals are completed. "We need to ensure that we respect the rules of our organisation and that we do not breach confidentiality in a way that will prevent people from speaking out in the future," added Blatter. Garcia was appointed Fifa's independent ethics investigator in 2012 and spent two years investigating all nine bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups following claims of corruption and collusion. The American lawyer travelled the world speaking to bid officials and appealing for evidence of wrongdoing, eventually submitted his report to Fifa in September 2014. Fifa subsequently released a 42-page summary that cleared Russia and Qatar of corruption. However, Garcia was unhappy with the summary, claiming it was "incomplete and erroneous". Earlier this week, he resigned, citing "lack of leadership" at Fifa. Four years of controversy 2 December 2010 - Russia and Qatar chosen to host 2018 and 2022 World Cups 4 October 2013 - Fifa agrees to set up taskforce to look into alternative dates for 2022 World Cup in Qatar 1 June 2014 - Sunday Times alleges ex-Fifa vice-president Mohamed bin Hammam paid £3m to football officials in return for supporting Qatari bid 5 September 2014 - Report into 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process submitted to Fifa by Michael Garcia 13 November 2014 - Fifa releases 42-page summary of Garcia report which clears Russia and Qatar of corruption 13 November 2014 - Garcia claims summary of his report is "materially incomplete" and contains "erroneous representations" 20 November 2014 - Garcia and Fifa ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert agree to release full report to organisation's compliance chief, Domenico Scala 16 December 2014 - Fifa deems Garcia's complaint against Eckert's summary of his report is "not admissible" 17 December 2014 - Garcia quits as independent chairman of the Fifa Ethics Committee's Investigatory Chamber 19 December 2014 - Fifa agrees to release full Garcia report Source:bbc