Michel Platini to boycott FIFA ethics panel meet
Michel Platini will not attend his FIFA ethics committee hearing Friday in protest because he believes his case has been pre-judged. Platini’s lawyers said in a statement Wednesday that the verdict “has already been announced last weekend in the press.’’
Though FIFA investigators have asked for a life ban to be imposed, Platini could reportedly escape with a ban of several years that would still effectively exile him and end his FIFA presidential ambitions.
“By this decision Michel Platini means to express his deepest indignation with a process he regards as solely political and intended to prevent him from standing for the FIFA presidency,’’ the former France great’s lawyers said.
“By this decision Michel Platini means to express his deepest indignation with a process he regards as solely political and intended to prevent him from standing for the FIFA presidency,’’ the former France great’s lawyers said.
He seemed to have lost the presumption of innocence and would be represented only by his lawyers, the statement said. The decision was announced less than 90 minutes after FIFA ethics committee judges promised Platini a fair trial even if he carried out a threat to boycott the hearing.
“We would like to clearly stress that the adjudicatory chamber of the ethics committee will deal with the present case in the same way as with any other procedure independently and in an unbiased manner,’’ the ethics panel’s statement said.
The case centers on a potential rules-breaking conflict of interest when Platini got a $2 million payment from FIFA approved by Sepp Blatter in 2011 as backdated salary. Blatter, who also risks a life ban, has said he will appear in person for his hearing on Thursday before the panel of four judges.
It will be Blatter’s return inside FIFA’s home after an enforced absence of more than two months.
Platini’s lawyers and Blatter himself have questioned the integrity of the ethics committee which suspended both of them ahead of the hearings during a period of intense legal trouble for scandal-hit FIFA. Verdicts on Platini and Blatter are expected next Monday or Tuesday.
Any sanctions can be challenged at the FIFA appeal committee and then CAS. The cases are expected to be resolved in January, at least one month before the FIFA election congress on February 26 in Zurich.
Prosecutors seek Swiss help
German prosecutors have asked Switzerland, home country of football world governing body FIFA, to help look into a suspicious payment linked to Germany’s hosting of the 2006 World Cup, including by sifting through bank data.
The Frankfurt state prosecutor has sought legal assistance over a 6.7 million euro ($7.3 million) transfer from Germany’s DFB football association to soccer’s world governing body, both authorities said on Wednesday.
In November, police and tax investigators raided DFB headquarters and searched the homes of officials to investigate suspected tax evasion linked to the awarding of the tournament.
At the heart of the investigation is the 2005 payment from the DFB that Der Spiegel magazine alleged was a return of a loan from then-Adidas CEO Robert-Louis Dreyfus to help buy votes for Germany’s successful World Cup bid in 2000 at a FIFA ballot.
Swiss authorities are separately reviewing 133 reports of suspicious financial activity linked to FIFA’s awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar – among a raft of corruption allegations engulfing the sport.
Former DFB President Wolfgang Niersbach, his predecessor Theo Zwanziger and the association’s former general secretary, Horst Schmidt — who all held senior positions on the 2006 organising committee — are suspected of tax evasion over the German payment, prosecutors have said.
The DFB and Niersbach, plus then-organising chief Franz Beckenbauer, rejected the votes-for-cash accusations, whereas Zwanziger has said the slush fund allegations were true and that Niersbach clearly knew about the fund, without providing information on his own knowledge of the affair.
Niersbach, who resigned over the scandal, has said an internal investigation was under way to find out why the amount was paid to FIFA and what was it used for.
Asked at a news conference on October 22 why the DFB had paid FIFA the amount, he replied: “I don’t know.”
Switzerland was asked to conduct various investigations relating to the transaction and tax evasion case, including investigating Swiss bank data, Frankfurt’s senior public prosecutor Nadja Niesen, said.
She was confirming a report by the Swiss paper NZZ. Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General said it would treat the German request as a priority, but declined to comment on its content or potential outcome.
FIFA candidates to be quizzed by European lawmakers
Brussels: FIFA’s presidential candidates will be questioned by European lawmakers at a campaign meeting. The NewFIFANow pressure group says three of the five candidates — Prince Ali bin Al Hussein, Jerome Champagne and Tokyo Sexwale — are confirmed to attend on January 27 in Brussels.
A fourth candidate, Gianni Infantino, is also expected at the forum co-organized by the European Parliament Sports Intergroup, NewFIFANow says.
Organizers say they offer candidates “an opportunity to present their platform and respond to questions of concern.” It was unclear if Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa could attend. In a campaign of few public events, the Bahraini royal was the only candidate to skip meeting FIFA voters and news conferences in Copenhagen last month.
Meanwhile, the head of German sportswear giant Adidas hinted for the first time today at the possibility of cutting links with FIFA in the wake of the corruption allegations dogging the bidding process for the 2006 World Cup.“If FIFA succeeds in reforming itself — and in my view they’re making good progress here — then we will continue,”
Adidas chief executive Herbert Hainer told the business daily Handelsblatt. Adidas has sponsored FIFA for more than 40 years and the current contract runs until 2030.
But if FIFA fails to get its house in order, “we will have to think about what the alternatives are,” Hainer said. German football has been engulfed by claims that a $7.2 million payment to FIFA was used to purchase the votes of four members of FIFA’s executive committee in 2000 — days before Germany narrowly won the right to host the 2006 finals.
