Fifa’s ethics committee have decided to suspend FIFA president Sepp Blatter, UEFA president Michel Platini and Secretary General of FIFA Jerome Valcke for 90 days, whilst investigations still continue over their conduct. The FIFA committee expressed that the suspensions will take effect immediately and that the three individuals were “banned from all football activities on a national and international level.”
The committee had a meeting earlier in the week after the Swiss Attorney General opened up a criminal case against Blatter over the £1.35 million payment to Platini, then the decision to suspend both individuals was made from here. The payment that is under investigation, was made in February 2011 for Platini being Blatter’s technical advisor between 1999 and 2002.
Last week Blatter described the investigators as “outrageous” and “essentially an attempt to damage my reputation.”
The 90 day ban can also be extended an extra 45 days. The suspension will end February 20, six days before the elections of the new FIFA president. Blatter and Platini are able to appeal against this decision to the FIFA committee, within the two days of being told about the suspension, however they both still will be suspended at least until the appeal.
Blatter’s lawyers have commented of what they expect from the ethics committee; “the ethics committee would want to hear from the president and his counsel, and conduct a thorough review of the evidence, before making any recommendation to take disciplinary actions.”