Blatter, Two Others Facing FIFA Investigation Over Salaries

Blatter, Two Others Facing FIFA Investigation Over Salaries

Adeboye   16:30:00   No comments:

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and ex-secretary general Jerome Valcke, already banned from football for ethics violations, are facing a fresh investigation, this time over the salaries and bonuses they received in office.

FIFA’s ethics committee said that its investigators had opened formal proceedings against both men, along with former finance director Markus Kattner, for possible ethics violations which included “bribery and corruption.”

It said the suspected violations were “in the context of salaries and bonuses paid to Mr Blatter, Mr Valcke and Mr Kattner as well as other provisions included in the contracts of these three individuals.”

They were also suspected of having breached rules concerning general conduct, loyalty, conflicts of interest and “offering and accepting gifts and other benefits.”

Blatter, Valcke and Kattner could not immediately be reached for comment, although the three have in the past denied wrongdoing.

FIFA said in June that an internal investigation revealed that the three officials had received 79 million Swiss francs ($81 million) in compensation over five years, calling them “massive payouts”.

Blatter, who led FIFA from 1998 until 2015, has already been banned for six years, following an appeal, reports Reuters.

The ban was imposed for ethics violations related to a payment of two million Swiss francs that FIFA made to then European soccer boss Michel Platini with Blatter’s approval in 2011 for work done a decade earlier.

Valcke was fired in January and has since been banned for 10 years for ethics violations which included using FIFA expenses for sightseeing trips and destruction of evidence.

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Blatter Appears At CAS For Appeal Against Ban

Blatter Appears At CAS For Appeal Against Ban

Adeboye   18:25:00   No comments:

Disgraced former FIFA president Sepp Blatter appeared before sport’s highest tribunal, the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS), on Thursday to appeal against his six-year ban from soccer.

The 80-year-old, who headed soccer’s global governing body for 17 years until he resigned in June last year, was banned from all football-related activity last December along with the then European soccer boss, Michel Platini.

“My name wouldn’t be Sepp Blatter if I didn’t have faith, if I wasn’t optimistic,” he told reporters as he arrived for the hearing. “I will accept the verdict because, in football, we learn to win, this is easy, but we also learn to lose, but this is not good, I wouldn’t want to lose.”

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Sepp Blatter Undergoes Surgery For Skin Cancer

Sepp Blatter Undergoes Surgery For Skin Cancer

Adeboye   17:19:00   No comments:

Blatter’s spokesman, Thomas Renggli, tells The Associated Press that he is at “home and fine” after a surgical procedure on his left ear.

The 80-year-old Blatter spent one night at a clinic before being discharged on Thursday, Renggli says.

Blatter spent several days in a hospital in Zurich last November after a stress-related collapse while he was suspended from duty by the FIFA ethics committee and subjected to criminal proceedings by federal prosecutors in Switzerland.

Now barred for six years for conflict of interest, Blatter has an appeal hearing on Aug. 25 at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Blatter’s 18-year stint as FIFA president ended in February when former UEFA official Gianni Infantino was elected.

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You Are A Thief, Maradona Tells Sepp Blatter

You Are A Thief, Maradona Tells Sepp Blatter

Adeboye   14:19:00   No comments:

Maradona

Former Argentinian football star Diego Maradona on Friday accused FIFA’s former president, Sepp Blatter, of stealing while at the helm of the international football association.

Maradona compared him with a former government official imprisoned for corruption in Argentina, claiming that Blatter has more money than Jose Lopez.

Lopez was Argentina’s public works secretary during the governments of Nestor Kirchner (2003 to 2007) and his wife Cristina Fernandez (2007 to 2015).

He was arrested on Tuesday while trying to hide millions of dollars in a monastery.

The former World Cup champion asked Loretta Lynch, the U.S. Attorney General investigating corruption within FIFA, to come to Argentina so that she could see things for herself.

He said a former Argentina football executive, Julio Grondona, who is already deceased, was the one who taught Blatter to steal.

Maradona, 55, said the current FIFA president, Switzerland’s Gianni Infantino, was “saddened” by the situation involving the football association.

“Infantino has asked me to collaborate.

“Both in FIFA and in the AFA (Argentine Football Association) dynamite has to be thrown in so that a fresh start can be made.

“Infantino was saddened. He could not do anything at all from outside of FIFA,’’ Maradona noted.

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FIFA: Blatter, Valcke, Kattner ‘Awarded Themselves £55m’

FIFA: Blatter, Valcke, Kattner ‘Awarded Themselves £55m’

Adeboye   15:01:00   No comments:

Former high-ranking FIFA officials Sepp Blatter, Jerome Valcke and Markus Kattner awarded themselves pay rises and bonuses worth $80m (£55m) over five years, say FIFA lawyers.

Football’s governing body revealed the contracts of ex-president Blatter, fired ex-secretary general Valcke and sacked former finance director Kattner one day after a Swiss police raid.

Documents and electronic data were seized during Thursday’s operation, which relates to investigations into Blatter and Valcke.

Suspected of criminal mismanagement of FIFA money, Blatter and Valcke were banned for six and 12 years respectively by the governing body’s ethics committee in February. Both deny wrongdoing, reports the BBC.

A statement for the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG), which carried out the investigations, read: “Documents and electronic data were seized and will now be examined to determine their relevance to the ongoing proceedings.

“The investigations still relate only to the persons named in earlier statements issued by the OAG and further persons unknown. As proceedings are ongoing, no further information can be given at present.”

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Blatter To Testify At Platini Ban Appeal

Blatter To Testify At Platini Ban Appeal

Adeboye   16:11:00   No comments:

Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter will testify during Michel Platini’s appeal against his ban from football, following a request from world football’s governing body, a source close to the case said on Tuesday.

Platini, the suspended head of European Football Confederation UEFA, will challenge his six-year ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland on Friday.

“Blatter will testify on Friday, at the request of FIFA”, said a source who was not authorised to discuss the case publicly, but confirmed the information first reported by L’Equipe newspaper.

In December, FIFA’s ethics judges found Platini guilty of ethics violations, conflict of interest and other offences in connection with a 2 million Swiss franc ($2 million, 1.8 million euro) payment he received from Blatter in 2011.

Both men claim the payment was part of a legitimate oral contract for consulting work that Platini did between 1999 and 2002, but FIFA’s in-house court found that explanation unconvincing.

The pair were first suspended for eight years in December, but a FIFA appeals panel reduced the bans to six years in February, citing mitigating circumstances.

UEFA has said it will not replace Platini until all his appeals are exhausted, while CAS has indicated it would rule on the Frenchman’s case before the June 10 start of the Euro 2016 tournament, which is being hosted by France, reports AFP.

If Platini’s appeal is successful, he could reclaim his UEFA post in time to preside over the tournament.

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