FIFA’s Blatter under criminal investigation
Michel Platini may also be involved in probe of financial corruption
FIFA President Sepp Blatter was placed under criminal investigation by Swiss authorities on Friday as a probe into soccer corruption reached the highest levels and left his grip on the top job in peril.
The Swiss attorney general’s office opened proceedings against Blatter for possible criminal mismanagement and misappropriation of FIFA money. Authorities also searched Blatter’s office and seized data.
The announcements came as FIFA wrapped up a two-day executive committee meeting and marked another stunning day of turmoil for the governing body and Blatter, who have been targeted by American and Swiss investigations into corruption.
The 79-year-old Blatter is set to step down in February as a result of those probes, but Friday’s events made an early exit seem inevitable.
The opening of formal criminal proceedings against Blatter could lead the FIFA ethics committee to provisionally suspend him from duty.
Blatter’s U.S.-based lawyer, Richard Cullen, said in a statement his client was co-operating and that “certainly no mismanagement occurred.”
The latest allegations also threaten UEFA President Michel Platini, Blatter’s one-time protege and favourite to succeed him in February’s election. Platini was questioned as a witness Friday about taking a “disloyal payment” from Blatter of two million Swiss francs (now $2.04 million US) of FIFA money in February 2011.
At the time, Platini was already tipped as a future FIFA leader though unlikely to run against Blatter in that year’s presidential election — instead backing the incumbent against Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar. Blatter was re-elected in May 2011 after Bin Hammam withdrew amid bribery allegations.
According to Switzerland’s attorney general, the money was supposedly paid nine years later for Platini’s work as Blatter’s football adviser at FIFA from 1999 to 2002.
Under Swiss law, a payment is classified disloyal if it is against the best interest of the employer — in this case FIFA.
Platini said in a statement issued by UEFA he was entitled to receive the money.
“I wish to state that this amount relates to work which I carried out under a contract with FIFA and I was pleased to have been able to clarify all matters relating to this with the authorities,” Platini said.
The statement did not address the apparent nine-year wait for payment.
The American probe rocked FIFA May 27, when senior officials suspected of bribery and racketeering were arrested in dawn raids at a luxury Zurich hotel two days before Blatter’s re-election.