FIFA to inspect Russia’s WC 2018 award for corruption allegations

In order to clear the corruption allegations stemming from the award of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar, FIFA will conduct an inspection of both cases.

«At the moment we’re working with renowned experts like Sylvia Schenk from Transparency International and the Basel-based anti-corruption expert Professor Marc Pieth. They’re giving their input to the Good Governance Committee, which will then submit its suggestions to the Executive Committee and Congress, where the matter will in turn be dealt with,» FIFA president Sepp Blatter said to Sueddeutsche Zeitung as quoted by fifa.com.

The representative of Transparency International Sylvia Schenk also confirmed the reports, saying the Russian organizing committee has nothing to fear if there was really no corruption.

«A lot of rumors surrounded the FIFA’s decision on the venues for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. However, most of them are about Qatar. I’m not aware of any corruption cases related to the 2018 World Cup.»

«If Russia didn’t pay anything, it has nothing to fear. Therefore, I would advise the country itself to ask for an investigation and to disclose all the financial details of its World Cup bid. You should show you’re interested in being cleared of the corruption charges as soon as possible,» Schenk said in an interview with Izvestia.