FIFA scandal engulfs Sepp Blatter, Platini


AFP – Embattled Sepp Blatter was urged to stand down as FIFA president on Saturday after he was placed under a criminal investigation as his heir-apparent Michel Platini also came under scrutiny over a murky multi-million-dollar payment.
In a dramatic escalation of the corruption scandal engulfing world football Swiss investigators accompanied by Swiss police swept into FIFA’s headquarters on Friday as their attention turned to Blatter and Platini.
“Swiss criminal proceedings against the President of FIFA, Mr. Joseph Blatter, have been opened on September 24, 2015 on suspicion of criminal mismanagement…and – alternatively – misappropriation,” said a statement from Switzerland’s attorney general’s office (OAG).
This stunning development came after months of probes following raids in Zurich which led to the indictment of more than a dozen top officials.
Swiss prosecutors said Blatter was being investigated over the 2005 sale of World Cup television rights to the Caribbean Football Union, then run by his former ally Jack Warner, a deal which had been “unfavourable for FIFA”.
Blatter was also suspected of a “disloyal payment” of two million dollars to Platini in February 2011 allegedly made for work the Frenchman carried out for FIFA between 1999 and 2002, before he was elected head of UEFA.
Saturday’s headlines in the Swiss press made uncomfortable reading for the beleaguered Blatter.
“Blatter should go as quickly as possible” was the blunt advice given to the 79-year-old football strongman by Neue Zurcher Zeitung.
“It is imperative that he now at least quickly abandons ship,” the daily suggested in an editorial.
Blick’s front page headline was bleaker: “Blatter risks jail….Twilight years behind bars?”
– Platini blow –
Swiss authorities said Blatter was questioned as “a suspect”, while Platini had been quizzed “as a person called upon to give information”.
Blatter’s lawyer Richard Cullen stressed that the FIFA boss was cooperating with Swiss authorities and that a review of the evidence would show “no mismanagement occurred”.
Platini defended the payment he received in 2011, made three months before the Frenchman announced he would not challenge Blatter for re-election during that year’s race for the FIFA presidency.



Check the PM News newspaper for the full story.





















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