Swiss businessman and former president of FIFA’s independent audit committee Domenico Scala has resigned from his post, unhappy with the new setup of the organization under Gianni Infantino.
Scala’s resignation comes as FIFA has abolished the old Executive Committee, instead creating the FIFA Council which now has the power to fire any chairpersons of the independent committees, including Scala’s audit committee. This means Scala, or other chairpersons such as ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, would be at the direction of the FIFA Council.
This ability was given to the FIFA Council following a resolution passed on Friday. This resolution seems to be the tipping point for Scala, who says the new setup “undermines a central pillar of the good governance of Fifa and it destroys a substantial achievement of the reforms.”
“It will henceforth be possible for the council to impede investigations against single members at any time, by dismissing the responsible committee members or by keeping them acquiescent through the threat of a dismissal,” Scala said upon his resignation. “The bodies are factually deprived of their independence and are in danger of becoming auxiliary agents of those whom they should actually supervise.”
A former FIFA anti-corruption adviser who helped bring Scala to the organization four years ago also holds the same feeling. "(Infantino) is actually exactly working like (Michel) Platini and Blatter,” Mark Pieth said to the Associated Press. “We desperately want to go beyond that now.”
UPDATE: FIFA has released a statement on Scala’s resignation, disputing the intentions of the resolution.
