FIFA’s head of auditing and compliance, Domenico Scala, has resigned in protest at new rules which he says will compromise independence and impede corruption investigations at the scandal-hit global football organisation
FIFA has replaced its previous executive committee, which was mired in a controversy under its president Sepp Blatter, with a new council and introduced a suite of reforms to tackle allegations of corrupt payments to officials.
Scala says that the new council will be able to appoint and sack those in charge of its committees, including auditing, ethics and finance, which means they have been ‘deprived of their independence.’
Scala, who has been in charge of finance at FIFA since 2012, said in a statement: ‘I am consternated about this decision because it undermines a central pillar of the good governance of FIFA, and it destroys a substantial achievement of the reforms.’
He claimed the changes make it possible for the council to ‘impede’ investigations by either dismissing committee members or ‘through the threat of a dismissal’.
In a statement, FIFA said: ‘FIFA regrets that Mr Scala has misinterpreted the purpose of the decision,’ describing his claims as ‘unfounded’ and ‘baseless’.
FIFA said: ‘The decision was made to permit the council to appoint members on an interim basis to the vacant positions of the new committees so they can start fulfilling their roles as part of the ongoing reform process until the next FIFA Congress in 2017.
‘In addition, the measure allows for the swift removal of members who have breached their obligations. The council fully respects the independence of the audit and compliance and the ethics committees, and any suggestions to the contrary are without merit.’
‘Pending the appointment of a new chairman of the audit and compliance committee, current deputy chairman Sindi Mabaso Koyana will serve as acting chairman.’
