Word Cup Bidding Row: FIFA Investigator Michael Garcia Resigns

Citing a "lack of leadership" atop FIFA, the institution's independent ethics investigator Michael Garcia resigned Wednesday in protest over the handling of his report on the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding.

Garcia, a former U.S. attorney in New York, said: "It is the lack of leadership on these issues within Fifa that leads me to conclude that my role in this process is at an end."

This has raised severe questions on the credibility of FIFA and its President, Sepp Blatter.

Blatter, referring to Garcia's resignation, said: "I am surprised by Mr Garcia's decision. The work of the ethics committee will nonetheless continue."

Garcia slammed FIFA after his two-year-long investigation into the allegedly corrupt World Cup bidding was obstructed by the institution. He further said that he lost all confidence in the independence of judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, who is an ethics committee colleague.

Last month, Eckert in a 42-page summary cleared 2018 host Russia and 2022 host Qatar of any serious wrongdoing, despite mentioning in the summary the former had refused to cooperate.

UEFA president Michel Platini said: "We wanted all transparency but this is a new failure for Fifa," BBC reports.

The report that contains results of Garcia's probe about how the FIFA authorities selected 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournament hosts has not been revealed to the public as yet.

Referring to the 2010 voting process by which FIFA executives selected hosts for the 2018 or 2022 World Cup tournaments, Garcia wrote in his statement: "The report identified serious and wide-ranging issues with the bidding and selection process," The New York Daily News reports.

German FIFA executive Theo Zwanziger forced a vote over whether to publically release Garcia's report in full or in parts. The FIFA executives will attend a meeting in which Garcia's report will be discussed, The Guardian reports.