Gianni Infantino is the President of FIFA. Photo: Rungroj Yongrit
(Photo: dpa)
It is unfortunate that “a few individuals continue to pursue their own agenda and make baseless allegations in the media about the deliberations in Mexico City,” FIFA said in a statement.
The “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” had reported that Scala was to be weakened at the FIFA Congress two weeks ago in Mexico City. According to the FAZ, this should emerge from statements and memory minutes of the Council meetings.
A controversial decision had been made at the congress, whereupon the Swiss company Scala announced its resignation. The FIFA Council was authorized for one year to appoint or dismiss members of its own supervisory bodies. These tasks are actually the responsibility of the Congress, the assembly of the 211 FIFA member associations.
“The discussions and deliberations at the FIFA Council meetings were lively, frank and open. Any allegations to the contrary are unfounded,” FIFA wrote in its statement. The FIFA President and the FIFA Council would not only respect the independence of the Audit and Compliance Committee and the Ethics Committee, but fully support them. “Any claim to the contrary is absurd,” it said.
The allegations against Infantino and the council members could result in an investigation by the ethics committee. Roman Geiser, the spokesman for the investigating chamber, did not want to confirm or deny this on Friday evening.
Scala was considered the architect of the FIFA reforms. He had chosen clear words after his resignation at the congress. “The committees are effectively robbed of their independence and threaten to become vicarious agents of those who are actually supposed to monitor them,” he said, explaining his departure as chairman of the Audit and Compliance Commission.
