ZURICH: The credibility of the FIFA ethics investigation into the 2018-2022 World Cup bid scandal has been diminished further by the world football federation’s own disciplinary committee.

‘Independent’ investigator Michael Garcia has appealed against what he considered the “erroneous” content and conclusions drawn by ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert from the American attorney’s original report.

Garcia’s complaint has been ruled “not admissable” on the grounds that Eckert’s 42-page summary was not a legal document and hence was “neither legally binding nor appealable.”

Eckert had concluded that the grounds were insufficient for either Russia or Qatar to be stripped of the awards to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups respectively.

Garcia was appointed by FIFA to lead the investigation into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in Russia and Qatar following a series of damaging allegations.

A complaint by two whistleblowers who said their confidentiality was compromised after they gave evidence to Garcia’s inquiry has also been dismissed by Fifa.

The FIFA executive committee will vote this week on whether an amendment to its ethics code that could lead to an edited version of the full report being released.

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