UEFA was never informed about Sepp Blatter’s payment to Michel Platini, according to the governing body’s former president Lennart Johansson.
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“I am a fighter”, the Schweiz am Sonntag quoted him in an advance summary of an interview to be published yesterday.
The ethics committee’s suspensions of Blatter and Platini have been made on the basis there is a prima facie case of wrongdoing, which needs to be fully investigated without any possibility of interference by the men.
FIFA’s ethics watchdog today banned Thai football chief Worawi Makudi for 90 days as acting president Issa Hayatou delayed his arrival at football’s corruption-hit ruling body by 24 hours.
But the provisional ban could derail Platini’s hopes.
FIFA’s ethics committee began its investigation after the Swiss attorney general opened criminal proceedings against Blatter in September.
Asked if he thought the payment was connected to the support for Blatter, Johansson told insideworldfootball: “It must be”.
As a silky French playmaker, Platini was revered as the star of 1980s European soccer, winning titles for club and country and collecting the top personal accolades. “We got the impression that Blatter realised four or five years ago that things needed to change at Federation Internationale de Football Association, and then initiated reforms to fight corruption while other Federation Internationale de Football Association executives, including a few from Europe, didn’t want to cooperate”. October. 12, 2015 9:08 am The continued Sepp Blatter-FIFA scandal is goal fodder for HBO’s “Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver.
FIFA’s ethics committee has rejected criticism from UEFA president Michel Platini over the manner of his suspension, saying the argument that he was not allowed to defend himself is “not valid”. He said the nine year delay in payment was due to FIFA’s financial situation.
FIFA’s accounts for 1999-2002 show a revenue surplus of 115 million Swiss francs.
No written contract surrounding the 2million Swiss francs has been provided to investigators either. A few soccer nations have also publicly questioned Platini’s limited public explanation.
“I would have anticipated this cost to be reported to UEFA”.
Adding to the controversy, Thursday’s purge by the ethics committee also felled South Korean tycoon Chung Mong-Joon who was banned from football activities for six years.
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Platini was presented the same forbid of 90 days from his position at UEFA as…
