FIFA hit back at Council of Europe report with claims of inaccuracies

By Andrew Warshaw

March 9 – FIFA has wasted no time defending its position by hitting back at a critical Council of Europe report by declaring there were “certain inaccuracies” in a recommendation calling for an internal investigation of Sepp Blatter’s (pictured) re-election as President last year.

The Council of Europe’s Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media issued a report earlier this week urging FIFA to investigate whether “the successful candidate” had exploited his position to obtain “unfair advantages” during last year’s election.

The Committee added that FIFA should “cast full light on the facts underlying the various scandals which, in recent years, have tarnished its image and that of international football”.

But in a statement on its website, FIFA said its own Ethics Committee had cleared Blatter of any wrongdoing in the election, which he won unopposed after the only other candidate, Mohamed Bin Hammam, withdrew amid cash-for-votes allegations.

Bin Hammam was later banned for life.

“Regarding the ethics proceedings on President Blatter, all charges were dismissed in full, as the Ethics Committee found that no breach of the Code of Ethics had been committed,” FIFA said.

The statement also stressed that the reform process instigated by Blatter after a spate of damaging corruption allegations was well under way.

“Regarding the process of reform, a clear road map has been established and published by FIFA and several task forces as well as an independent Governance Committee are working on proposals that will be presented already at the FIFA executive committee at the end of March 2012,” FIFA said.

It added that proposals would be submitted to this year’s FIFA Congress in Budapest in May.

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