Michael Garcia’s resignation hit Fifa real hard

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Michael Garcia
Michael Garcia

As the sun set over the Atlas Mountains, and the sound of the evening call to prayer drifted across the city, all seemed calm.

Michael Garcia
Michael Garcia

At Marrakech’s finest hotel, La Mamounia, famous for being Winston Churchill’s favourite bolt hole, Fifa’s top executives – the select few who run world football – were checking in ahead of their final meeting of the year.
Uefa president Michel Platini, looking relaxed in a garish grey and yellow tracksuit, chatted quietly to an associate as they sat in loungers on the terrace. Jordanian Prince Ali and his wife walked quietly through the manicured gardens. US football chief Sunil Gulati politely deflected questions from journalists who hung around the lobby in the vain hope of a quick word with president Sepp Blatter.

And then it happened. From far away across the Atlantic, another senior Fifa figure was checking out. And here, amid the overwhelming chaos of the Marrakech souks, world football’s governing body would once again be thrown into turmoil.

The resignation of New York-based Michael Garcia – the former US attorney who led Fifa’s investigation into allegations of corruption around the bidding for the next two World Cups, is another humiliation for the organisation.

Garcia did not just quit – he called into question the entire integrity, leadership and culture of Fifa. He was the organisation’s lead investigator. Its ethics committee chairman. The man hired to clean up a toxic, discredited body after years of scandal.Instead, he reached the end of his tether and walked away in disgust. Garcia, we learnt, had even been reported to Fifa’s disciplinary committee for publicly suggesting that the 430-page report of his findings be published.

What does this now say about Fifa’s ability and willingness to police itself? About its commitment to transparency? Its determination to root out corruption? Its suitability to run the world game? Its leadership under Blatter?
In La Mamounia’s resplendent lobby, the likes of Platini and Ali spoke of their shock, talking in hushed tones to advisers about how best to respond to requests for interviews from reporters. Blatter, meanwhile, issued a statement expressing his surprise.

But in truth of course, it would have been more of a surprise if Garcia had stayed. This week, as Fifa began its end-of-year desk clearing, the American lawyer’s appeal against a 42-page summary of his investigation was predictably and unceremoniously dismissed. It left his position untenable.

Source: BBC

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