Now Blatter facing a criminal probe as FIFA scandal grows
EMBATTLED FIFA president Sepp Blatter was last night drawn further into a growing corruption scandal as it emerged he is now at the centre of a criminal investigation.
Swiss prosecutors said the head of football’s world governing body is suspected of ‘criminal mismanagement’ or ‘misappropriation’ over a TV rights deal he signed with ex- Caribbean soccer chief Jack Warner in 2005.
Blatter, 79, is also suspected of approving what was described as ‘a disloyal payment’ of two million Swiss francs (£1.3million) in 2011 to UEFA president Michel Platini, who is the favourite to succeed him next February.
Platini carried out work for Blatter at FIFA between January 1999 and June 2002, and Swiss legal sources claimed he had provided prosecutors with evidence against the embattled FIFA president.
However, it was unclear last night why he was paid the large sum nine years later. Under Swiss l aw, a payment is described as ‘disloyal’ if it is said to be against the best interests of an employer, which in this case would be FIFA.
Criminal mismanagement carries a sentence of up to five years in prison. However, Blat- ter’s lawyer claimed that ‘once the details of the contract have been explained’ his client will be exonerated.
Blatter is not among the 11 FIFA officials, including Warner, currently facing federal charges in the US. But news of the Swiss probe means American investigators may now consider whether to apply for him to be charged and extradited.
He has maintained he is an ‘ honest man’ and insists he announced his intention to step down as FIFA president to protect the organisation. A spokesman for Platini refused to comment last night.
In May FIFA was plunged i nto crisis after a wave of arrests of officials including two FIFA vice-presidents in Zurich on bribery, fraud and money laundering charges following an FBI investigation.
The US Department of Justice’s indictment of 18 people said bribes totalling more than 150million US dollars (£98million) had been paid for television rights, sponsorship deals and World Cup votes. In a separate development, the Swiss attorney general seized documents and electronic data from FIFA’s headquarters and announced it planned to question ten current FIFA officials who voted on recent footballing matters.
The multi-million bids for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 tournament in Qatar are being i nvestigated by authorities in both the US and Switzerland.
But Blatter insists FIFA is not a corrupt organisation, saying recently: ‘There is no corruption in football. There is corruption with individuals, there is not a general organised corruption.’
Earlier this week, FIFA gave Swiss investigators access to the emails of the organisation’s suspended general secretary Jerome Valcke. The 54-year-old was implicated in an alleged ‘touting’ scheme to sell World Cup tickets for above face value. Valcke has described the allegations as ‘fabricated’ but has stood down while an investigation takes place.