By Paul Nicholson
November 19 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter responded robustly and swiftly to the turning down of his first appeal for a lifting of his suspension by the FIFA Appeal Committee yesterday.
In a statement Blatter questioned the delay in issuing the judgement and said he was looking forward to a fair hearing by a neutral body.
Blatter has consistently maintained he has done nothing wrong in sanctioning a payment of SFr2 million to UEFA president Michel Platini in 2011. The payment was the balance of money owed to Platini via a verbal agreement and was paid nine years after the work was completed. The payment is still the subject of a Swiss criminal investigation into whether it was a “disloyal payment”, though verbal agreements were considered to be contractual under Swiss law at the time.
Blatter’s concern has always been that he will be given a fair hearing and mantains that so far he hasn’t had one. He says that in the opinion given on the judgement there is no “evidence of improper motivation” for the deal.
The statement noted: “President Blatter is disappointed by today’s decision of the Appeal Committee regarding his provisional suspension. However, as the opinion notes, the provisional suspension was an ex parte (one sided) action taken on the sole request of the Investigatory Chamber. Noticeably absent from the opinion and these proceedings is any evidence of any improper motivation or purpose for the agreement between FIFA and Mr. Platini.”
Blatter again said that he would continue to battle to clear his name, a task that has been held up in terms of appeals by the delay in the handing down of the Appeal Committee judgement.
“The Appeal Committee rendered this decision on 3 November but released it only today, over two weeks later. President Blatter is committed to clearing his name and hope this inexplicable delay is not an effort to deny him, during his elected term, a fair hearing before a neutral body. President Blatter will continue his appeals and looks forward to the opportunity to be heard, including through the presentation of evidence and argument of counsel, and thereby demonstrate he has engaged in no misconduct,” said the statement.
Yesterday, Insideworldfootball exclusively reported that both Blatter and Platini face being banned for several years before Christmas whether or not they successfully appealed against their temporary suspensions. (http://www.insideworldfootball.com/fifa/18327-exclusive-platini-and-blatter-could-get-7-year-bans-before-xmas)
It is understood FIFA investigators are close to completing their inquiries and are recommending stringent sanctions, and that they are keen to wrap up the case as quickly as possible. It is further understood that the files on Blatter and Platini will be handed over by the end of November to the head of FIFA’s Adjudicatory Chamber, Joachim Eckert, giving him another month to hear from all parties before delivering his final sentence – which looks likely to be a ban of several years according to Insideworldfootball sources.
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