FIFA's decision to remove its ethics team was a "setback" in the fight against corruption as "hundreds" of cases were being investigated, ousted investigator Cornel Borbely said on Wednesday
Former Chairmen of the chambers of the independent FIFA Ethics Committee, Hans-Joachim Eckert (L) and Cornel Borbely (R) give a press conference after FIFA's decision to remove its ethics team on May 10, 2017. FIFA's decision to remove its ethics team was a "setback in the fight against corruption", one of those dismissed, investigator Cornel Borbely, told a press conference in Bahrain . Pic/AFP
FIFA's decision to remove its ethics team was a "setback" in the fight against corruption as "hundreds" of cases were being investigated, ousted investigator Cornel Borbely said on Wednesday.
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World football's governing body has recommended that Borbely, along with the ethics judge who helped bring down Sepp Blatter, Hans-Joachim Eckert, not be re-elected at the FIFA Congress which takes place on May 11 in Bahrain. The decision not only threatens to overshadow the Congress, but also plunge FIFA into another high-profile corruption episode. Borbely and Eckert told a press conference in Manama that the decision was bad for football's scandal-tainted governing body and the sport itself. "The removal means nothing else but the end of the reform process," said Borbely.
"The ethics commission is the key institution of the FIFA reforms. "We could bring back some trust in FIFA -- the ethics committee... was the role model for the whole sports world. "The removal of the ethics committee is not in FIFA's best interests... and it's a setback for the fight against corruption." He added: "We investigated several hundred cases and several hundred are still pending and ongoing at the moment."
The dramatic recommendation was taken by the all-powerful FIFA Council on Tuesday. The decision not to re-elect Eckert and Borbely comes as they have both served their four-year terms. The Council recommended replacing Eckert with Vassilios Skouris of Greece, a former president of the European Court of Justice.
Similarly, ethics investigator Borbely is to be replaced by Colombia's Maria Claudia Rojas. The decision is set to be ratified by FIFA at its annual Congress, which convenes on Thursday.
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