By Andrew Warshaw
May 16 – FIFA have gone into overdrive in an attempt to play the victim following the rift between Gianni Infantino and his independent financial watchdog Domenico Scala that led to Scala’s dramatic resignation less than 24 hours after the FIFA Congress in Mexico.
With the Congress having turned into a public relations disaster for Infantino who had hoped to convince the watching world that FIFA was in safe hands under his leadership but who instead unleashed a media storm over a savage regulation change that undermined the entire independence of FIFA’s judicial bodies, the organisation issued a statement saying the change had been misconstrued and was a positive move.
Delegates at the Congress hardly had time to breathe before being asked to approve a proposal which Infantino was accused by Scala of “smuggling” on to the agenda without prior debate and which effectively saw him seize control of FIFA’s ethics bodies.
With his independence wiped away, Scala resigned as chairman of the audit and compliance committee but FIFA have been quick to stress that the move to allow its new Council to appoint and dismiss members of independent organs was only “on an interim basis”.
“This action was in support of expediting the reform effort, putting the right individuals on critically important committees, and removing those who breach their obligations while of course following due process, based on a request from the relevant independent judicial bodies or the Audit & Compliance Committee,” the statement said.
That last clause is crucial, however, because there was no mention whatsoever in the original proposal put to Congress that any hiring and firing could only be done on the recommendation of the independent bodies themselves, fuelling the feeling that FIFA is now desperately trying to gain the moral ground after scoring a massive own goal.
Having seen Scala fall on his sword before the new-look Council could get its claws around his neck, FIFA’s suddenly vulnerable ethics chiefs were quick to get on the right side of Infantino by issuing their own statement.
“The Chairmen of the investigatory and the adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee of FIFA, Dr. Cornel Borbély and Hans-Joachim Eckert, have taken note of the demission (sic) of Domenico Scala,” the statement said.
“Dr. Borbély and Mr. Eckert do not regard the decision of the Congress to transitionally delegate certain competences to the FIFA Council to have any impact on the content of their work. Both chambers will continue to exercise this work in full independence.”
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