FIFA ethics committee requests Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini sanctions
Saturday 21 November 2015 11:52, UK
FIFA's independent ethics committee has 'requested sanctions' in its final reports on suspended president Sepp Blatter and UEFA president Michel Platini - but will not specify what those sanctions are because of 'privacy rights'.
The pair are currently under 90-day provisional suspensions ahead of an ethics committee hearing over a £1.3m payment made to Platini by FIFA in 2011.
Blatter and Platini had appeals against their bans dismissed by FIFA's appeals committee earlier this week and on Friday the latter - who wants to stand to be Blatter's replacement in February - took his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
A statement from FIFA's ethics committee on Saturday said the committee's final reports had been submitted and that sanctions had been called for.
"The investigatory chamber of the independent ethics committee has submitted its final reports containing requests for sanctions against Joseph Blatter and Michel Platini to the adjudicatory chamber chaired by Hans-Joachim Eckert," it read.
"The final report regarding Joseph S. Blatter was submitted by Robert Torres, the report regarding Michel Platini was submitted by Vanessa Allard.
"For reasons linked to privacy rights and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, the chamber will not publish details of the concluded reports and the requested sanctions against the two officials."
Blatter said earlier this week he was disappointed to have lost his initial appeal and that there was no evidence of improper conduct relating to the payment to Platini.
The case surrounds a FIFA payment to Platini in 2011 reported to be for work carried out more than nine years previously.
The pair insist there was an oral agreement for the payment made in 1998 when the Frenchman started work as technical advisor for Blatter; no written agreement exists, however, and Platini's job ended in 2002 when he joined FIFA's ethics committee.
Platini's lawyer took aim at FIFA on hearing the latest news, which comes 24 hours after his client appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
He said: "It is a troubling coincidence the day after our appeal to CAS against Michel Platini's provisional suspension.
"It's farcical. It would be laughable if we were not talking about the future of the biggest non-governmental institution in the world."
