FIFA Corruption Scandal: Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini Investigated by Ethics Committee

Soccer’s governing body chief Sepp Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini are facing an investigation by FIFA’s ethics committee.

The move comes after the Swiss attorney general opened criminal proceedings against 79-yar-old Sepp Blatter.

Sepp Blatter is accused of signing a contract “unfavorable” to FIFA and making a “disloyal payment” to UEFA President Michel Platini, 60.

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The FIFA president denies wrongdoing and his lawyer says he is co-operating fully.

The ethics committee is looking into the circumstances of a payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($2.2 million) that Michel Platini received in 2011 for work said to have been carried out more than nine years previously, reported the Press Association.

Swiss prosecutors opened criminal proceedings against Sepp Blatter on September 25.

Michel Platini – who worked as Sepp Blatter’s technical advisor between 1999 and 2002 – was interviewed as a witness by officers from the attorney general’s office.

Michel Platini is yet to explain the nine-year delay in payment but he too denies any wrongdoing.