{"id":66257,"date":"2014-11-18T16:30:55","date_gmt":"2014-11-18T16:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=66257"},"modified":"2014-11-18T17:10:47","modified_gmt":"2014-11-18T17:10:47","slug":"fifa-lodges-criminal-complaint-world-cup-hosting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/11\/fifa-lodges-criminal-complaint-world-cup-hosting\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA lodges criminal complaint over World Cup hosting"},"content":{"rendered":"
Fifa has lodged a criminal complaint against individuals connected to the bids to host the next two World Cups.<\/p>\n
President Sepp Blatter has acted on the advice of judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, whose report cleared Russia and Qatar to host the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.<\/p>\n
“There is insufficient incriminating evidence to call into question the whole bidding process,” said Eckert.<\/p>\n
Although the report has been widely criticised, Blatter has resisted calls for it to be made public.<\/p>\n
“If Fifa were to publish the report, we would be violating our own association law as well as state law,” he said.<\/p>\n
However, Fifa do have significant areas of concern.<\/p>\n
In a statement, it said: “There seem to be grounds for suspicion that, in isolated cases, international transfers of assets with connections to Switzerland took place, which merit examination by the criminal prosecution authorities.”<\/p>\n
Blatter said the move shows Fifa is not opposed to transparency.<\/p>\n
He added: “If we had anything to hide, we would hardly be taking this matter to the Office of the Attorney General.”<\/p>\n
Eckert confirmed he had advised Fifa that a criminal complaint be lodged at or around the same time he produced his report last week.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fifa has lodged a criminal complaint against individuals connected to the bids to host the next two World Cups. President Sepp Blatter has acted on the advice of judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, whose report cleared Russia and Qatar to host the 2018 and 2022 tournaments. “There is insufficient incriminating evidence to call into question the whole […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":29881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[29,3],"yoast_head":"\n