Federation Internationale de Football Association has opened a formal investigation into former president Sepp Blatter and former secretary generals Jerome Valcke and Markus Kattner over a number of potential violations, including bribery and corruption.
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The investigatory chamber of FIFA’s ethics committee said on Friday that it was investigating all three on suspicion of bribery and corruption, conflict of interest for accepting gifts and for violation of “loyalty” under the general code of conduct. That case relates to a $2 million payment he authorized in 2011 for Michel Platini, the former UEFA president who also served as a Federation Internationale de Football Association vice president. “Blatter, Mr. Valcke and Mr. Kattner as well as other provisions included in the contracts of these three individuals”, the statement said. Platini, who also received an eight-year ban reduced to six on appeal, also denies wrongdoing.
It said Kattner was also being investigated for a possible violation of the ethics code involving confidentiality.
ZURICH – Former Fifa president Sepp Blatter and former 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.
Blatter has said his earnings were in line with top officials from professional sports leagues around the world.
Blatter and Valcke, FIFA’s former secretary general, are already serving ethics bans and face criminal proceedings by Swiss federal prosecutors.
In an interview with CNN in April, Blatter denied he ever took any bribes while at Federation Internationale de Football Association, saying he was forced out of the organization in a “coup d’etat” led by the USA, which is carrying out its own investigations into Federation Internationale de Football Association, and assisted by the Swiss.
The 80-year-old Blatter, who ran FIFA from 1998 to 2015, is now waiting for the result of his appeal against an existing ban from football for a payment he made to former protege and UEFA president Michel Platini.
Kattner was sacked as Finance Director and Deputy Secretary General in May after being accused of “breaches of his fiduciary responsibilities”.
He was extradited to the United States and subsequently plead guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy, three counts of wire fraud conspiracy and three counts of money laundering conspiracy at a district court in NY in November 2015.
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They were also suspected of having breached rules concerning general conduct, loyalty, conflicts of interest and “offering and accepting gifts and other benefits”.
