Serious Fraud Office investigates FIFA & World Cup bids

Serious Fraud Office considers criminal investigation into World Cup bids

• SFO may apply to see full Michael Garcia World Cup report
• SFO discuss 2018 and 2022 bids with the FBI



The Swiss headquarters of FIFA where the Serious Fraud Office may apply to to see the full text of Michael Garcia's report.

The Serious Fraud Office could make an application to the Swiss authorities to see the full text of Michael Garcia’s controversial investigation into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups as it considers whether to launch a full criminal investigation in the UK.

The SFO is believed to be speaking to various other law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, as it weighs up whether there is enough evidence to launch a criminal investigation in the UK.

In response to a letter from Damian Collins MP, the SFO’s general counsel Alan Milford said “every reasonable line of inquiry, including working closely with appropriate overseas authorities, is being pursued to ascertain whether the director has grounds to open an investigation”.

An FBI investigation into former members of Fifa’s executive committee has been continuing since 2011 and it emerged last month the former Concacaf general secretary Chuck Blazer had been recruited to secretly record colleagues during the London Olympic Games after being accused of not paying his taxes.

“They have confirmed they are actively looking into it, talking to relevant agencies – the FBI and the Swiss Authorities. They could make an application to see the Garcia report. That may well be what they are doing in terms of the conversations they are having with other agencies,” Collins said.

The SFO also told Collins it had appealed for whistleblowers to get in touch. The email address is understood to have been passed on to Phaedra Almajid and Bonita Mersiades, the two whistleblowers who were left feeling “traduced” by the way their evidence was treated by judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, the head of the judiciary arm of the Fifa ethics committee.

The SFO has previously told the Guardian it does not yet have jurisdictional grounds to open an investigation but it would continue to actively look at the case and keep it under review.

Collins said the matter would be raised in an adjournment debate in the Commons on Monday. On Wednesday, the culture secretary Sajid Javid wrote to Blatter to urge him to publish the Garcia report in full. The US attorney disowned the summary of the report produced by Eckert, saying it did not reflect the facts or his conclusions.

Domenico Scala, the chair of Fifa’s audit committee, is considering how much of Garcia’s report can be shared with the Fifa ethics committee before their next meeting in December.

The Fifa vice-president Prince Ali bin al-Hussein has yet to decide whether to stand against Blatter. Some figures within Uefa are privately urging the Jordanian to stand in next year’s presidential election, but his office said on Wednesday that he had yet to make up his mind.