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Next steps for World Cup bidding case

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

US attorney Michael Garcia says he will go to FIFA’s appeals committee to challenge Eckert’s decision to close the bid corruption part of the case.

If Garcia loses before FIFA’s in-house panel, he can take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Meanwhile, Eckert has asked Garcia to identify individuals whom the judge refused to identify to protect their personal rights, another sign of the German’s commitment to secrecy — something he shares with Blatter.

The prospect of Garcia interrogating FIFA officials before Eckert in a closed-door session at FIFA’s Zurich headquarters is intriguing.

Eckert has said his final judgments in the case could occupy him until April. Those verdicts — and potential bans for football officials — can be appealed first to FIFA and then CAS.

This investigation could yet stretch into 2016. AP

QUESTIONS FIFA MUST ADDRESS:

— Did FIFA really take at face value Russia’s claim that evidence they would otherwise have submitted to the investigation was lost forever because their computers were destroyed?

— Why would the Japanese bid lie about having done a vote-trading deal with Russia?

— Why is Fifa not more concerned about Mohamed Bin Hammam ‘buying’ a vote for Qatar?

— Why is it wrong for a bid team to fund a $55,000 dinner for Caribbean football officials, as the FA did, but acceptable for another to spend US$1.8m on a conference for African football officials, as Qatar did?

— Why is FIFA so distrusting of whistleblowers, having dismissed the evidence of Qatari Phaedra Almajid and Australian Bonita Mersiades who revealed corruption in the bidding process.

— Why is FIFA not more explicit about the alleged corruption of some of Fifa’s senior officials?

— Why not just publish the Garcia investigation in full? THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

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