Infantino Under Fire From Inside and Outside FIFA

(ATR) FIFA president Gianni Infantino is coming under increased criticism from both inside and outside his organization for a decision that has already led his audit and compliance committee chairman Domenico Scala to resign.

Scala, who was at the forefront of efforts to clean up FIFA’s battered image in the wake of multiple corruption scandals, quit after Infantino made a change that gives the FIFA Council control over appointing and dismissing members of the governing body’s independent compliance and ethics committees.

Infantino made the announcement during FIFA’s congress in Mexico City on May 13. He claims the move will only last until next year’s congress in Kuala Lumpur and that it was needed to expedite the process of removing discredited members from the committees.

Both the watchdog group Transparency International and two-time FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali Bin al Hussein of Jordan are denouncing Infantino’s move.

Prince Ali, in an interview with Telegraph Sport, said "The way the vote was put to the 209 members of the FIFA congress, as well as the effect of that vote, was a complete betrayal to all of those who thought they had voted for change, transparency, fair play and reform.

"Had delegates to the FIFA congress been given time to absorb what had been asked, or truly consider this motion, I very much doubt that anyone would have voted for it. "

Prince Ali is a former FIFA vice-president and as the current head of the Jordan Football Association was in attendance in Mexico City last Friday.

A Transparency International spokesman, as reported by PA Sport, said of the decision: "The fact the ethics committee and the audit and compliance committee were independently run was a step in the right direction.

"Taking this independence away, even for just a year, is significant primarily because of the way it was done and the message it sends.

"We would have hoped that if the new president wanted to remove people from the committees he could have found a less autocratic way to do it.''

Written by Gerard Farek

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