FIFA’s ethics committee has asked for sanctions against Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini after finishing investigations into their alleged financial wrongdoing.
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Platini’s lawyer Thibaud d’Ales revealed the FIFA’s life ban demand which he described as a “scandal” and “excessive”.
A statement from the adjudicatory chamber read: “The adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee chaired by Hans-Joachim Eckert has today opened formal adjudicatory proceedings against Joseph S. Blatter and Michel Platini based on the final reports submitted by the investigatory chamber”.
Blatter, Platini and their representatives can appear before the FIFA-appointed judges to mount a defence, while investigators can also make a presentation in the process that functions like an in-house court.
If Platini’s latest move succeeds, Blatter believes that the former Juventus midfielder would see off competition from five other candidates to become the next head of football’s world governing body.
D’Ales maintained there was a concerted effort inside FIFA to prevent Platini taking over the top job in football.
The 79-year-old was admitted in the hospital earlier this month with stress-related illness.
“It’s a pure scandal, and by making it public there’s clearly an intention to cause harm”.
The investigative branch did not disclose the severity of the recommended sanctions, or the evidence collected, but both Blatter and Platini have been implicated in possible criminal conduct in a separate case launched by Swiss prosecutors. “The masks are slipping one by one in Federation Internationale de Football Association, the electoral calendar is being manipulated and there is a strategy to eliminate Platini as a candidate”.
“They know what is in the report and they are free to comment on it”, he added.
The provisional bans had been handed down after it emerged that Swiss authorities were investigating a two million Swiss franc (£1.35m) payment made by Federation Internationale de Football Association to Platini for work that was carried out nine years previously.
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Blatter repeated his legal defence that a verbal agreement for Platini to receive the money was a valid contract in Swiss law.
