adminFifa has lodged a criminal complaint against individuals connected to the bids to host the next two World Cups.
President Sepp Blatter has acted on the advice of judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, whose report cleared Russia and Qatar to host the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.
“There is insufficient incriminating evidence to call into question the whole bidding process,” said Eckert.
Although the report has been widely criticised, Blatter has resisted calls for it to be made public.
“If Fifa were to publish the report, we would be violating our own association law as well as state law,” he said.
However, football’s world governing body do have significant areas of concern.
In a statement, it said: “There seem to be grounds for suspicion that, in isolated cases, international transfers of assets with connections to Switzerland took place, which merit examination by the criminal prosecution authorities.”
Blatter said the move shows Fifa is not opposed to transparency.
He added: “If we had anything to hide, we would hardly be taking this matter to the Office of the Attorney General.”
Eckert confirmed he had advised Fifa that a criminal complaint be lodged at or around the same time he produced his report last week. — BBC Sport
Online Reporter