Suspended FIFA President Sepp Blatter arrived at FIFA headquarters on Thursday (December 17) for his hearing before the group’s ethics panel.
FIFA investigators in November called for sanctions against Blatter and European (UEFA) soccer chief Michel Platini, both of whom were suspended from their posts for 90 days on Oct. 8 pending a full investigation.
Blatter has reiterated that a 2 million Swiss franc ($2.02 million) payment from FIFA to Platini in 2011 — when Blatter was running for re-election — was legitimate and resulted from a verbal contract for work Platini had done for the organisation years before.
Blatter said in a letter to FIFA members released to the media that the way the ethics committee’s investigative arm had pursued the case was “tendentious and dangerous. This trial reminds me of the Inquisition,” he wrote.
Blatter will testify on Thursday while Platini, who was scheduled to appear on Friday, said through his lawyer that he will not attend his hearing in protest at what he condemns as a political process designed to prevent him running to lead the world governing body.
FIFA’s ethics panel is set to rule on their cases next week, and could impose much longer bans than the provisional suspensions if it finds the men guilty of violations.
U.S. prosecutors have charged 41 people and entities in an inquiry into soccer corruption. Soccer bosses from throughout the Americas are among the defendants in a case that prosecutors say involves $200 million in bribes and kickbacks tied to the marketing of major tournaments and matches.
Blatter is also the subject of a criminal investigation in his native Switzerland over the Platini payment.
The avalanche of corruption allegations prompted Blatter to say in June he would resign, only days after being re-elected to a fifth term. Blatter has not been charged with a crime. (Reuters)
