Sepp Blatter Lied About Decision to Not Publicly Release the World Cup Bribery Investigation Report

Newsflash: FIFA head honcho Sepp Blatter might, stress miiiiiiiight not be the most ethically accountable person in a position of power in the world. Hopefully you were sitting down when you read that.

FIFA and Sepp have been dogged over the process that awarded Russia and Qatar the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, respectively, for years. Allegations of corruption and bribery tainted both bids. In 2012 FIFA appointed an investigator, Michael J. Garcia, to investigate the process. The former U.S. attorney spent 18 months compiling a 350-page report.

Problem is, according to a new story by Sam Borden in the New York Times, no one will ever see the report. Okay, that’s not entire accurately. Borden writes that four people have seen it — Garcia, his deputy, and someone on the FIFA ethics committee and his deputy. Members of FIFA’s Executive Committee (ExCo) met last month in Zurich and some (namely U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati) wanted it released publicly, after appropriate redactions.

Not only were these attempts shot down, but Blatter later lied that there was any attempt to make Garcia’s report public.

From the Times:

"According to multiple people in the room, Blatter shut down any meaningful discussion on the issue during the ExCo meeting, differentiating between members who were part of the committee for the World Cup vote in 2010 and those who were not. Essentially, Blatter argued, those who were not there for the vote were not entitled to have a say on whether the investigation into that vote should be made public. During a news conference after the meeting, Blatter — as if imitating the stereotypical villain — declared flatly that, in fact, no one raised the issue of disclosing the report during the meeting, punctuating this assertion by haughtily crossing his arms and glaring at the questioner."

Borden’s entire piece is obviously worth reading. He notes that the Garcia report may or may not be a “smoking gun,” but FIFA continues to operate as if it’s Blatter’s personal fiefdom — remember the organization spent almost $30 million on a movie to lionize Blatter that completely flopped.

The problem here is that anyone paying attention can see through Blatter’s crony-filled, ethically bankrupt charade. Unfortunately Blatter and FIFA make the rules. Soccer fans around the world have little recourse other than voting with their wallets and not watching the World Cup or hoping that eventually Blatter’s reign will come to an end, replaced by a much more forward-thinking, progressive regime.