—- Following the statement issued by the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee, Hans-Joachim Eckert, on the report by the chairman and deputy chairman of the investigatory chamber, Judge Eckert has recommended to the FIFA President – in line with the FIFA Code of Ethics – that a criminal complaint be lodged with the Office of the Attorney  General of Switzerland in Berne.

This criminal complaint has been lodged today. The subject of the criminal complaint is the possible misconduct of individual persons in connection with the awarding of the hosting rights of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups investigated by Michael Garcia, chairman of the investigatory chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee.

In particular there seem to be grounds for suspicion that, in isolated cases, international transfers of assets with connections to Switzerland took place, which merit examination by the criminal prosecution authorities. The reports compiled by Michael Garcia and Cornel Borbély will be made available to the Office of the Attorney General via Hans-Joachim Eckert.