Pressure Grows on FIFA President to Step Down

(WFI) The threat of suspension hangs over Sepp Blatter but he is refusing to quit, while Michel Platini denies any wrongdoing in a letter to UEFA’s 54 members.

Despite criminal proceedings opened against him by Swiss prosecutors, Blatter was back at work on Monday and Tuesday – an Associated Press photo showed him arriving at FIFA headquarters today before 7am.

FIFA’s ethics committee is reviewing allegations of financial misconduct against the 79-year-old and could ban him. He is suspected of signing a TV rights contract, understood to be with disgraced former FIFA vice president Jack Warner, that was "unfavourable to Fifa" and making a "disloyal payment" to Platini.

In a statement through his lawyers, Blatter said he "had done nothing illegal or improper". Commenting on the $2 million payment to his then-ally Platini in 2011, he claimed it was "valid compensation and nothing more".

Both Blatter, who is due to step down in February when his successor is appointed, was interrogated by Swiss AG officials on Friday after a FIFA Executive Committee meeting. Platini was also questioned.

While Blatter returned to work on Monday, Platini was in crisis management mode, aware that his FIFA presidential ambitions – he was favourite to succeed the outgoing president – could be irreparably damaged by the revelation about the payment.

Seeking to answer speculation about "the facts that concern me personally", Platini said that "for reasons of transparency", he wanted to clarify that the $2 million payment was for "work on a wide range of matters relating to football" between 1998 and 2002, which included a role as Blatter's technical advisor.

The 60-year-old said the remuneration was agreed at the time, confirming that the "final outstanding amount of 2 million Swiss Francs" was paid in February 2011."This income has all been fully declared by me to the authorities in accordance with Swiss law," he said in the letter.

But he has still failed to explain why it took nine years for the payment to be executed.

It was paid three months after Platini took part in the scandal-hit 2018 and 2022 World Cup vote and two months before choosing not to stand against Blatter for the FIFA presidency, instead declared UEFA’s backing for Blatter in the presidential election against Mohammed Bin Hammam.

On Saturday, Prince Ali-Bin Al-Hussein, who was defeated by Blatter in the May presidential election but is standing again in the election slated for Feb 26, said thesuspicions of criminal mismanagement against Blatter showed "the need for new leadership that can restore the credibility of FIFA".

"We cannot change the past but we can have a future where FIFA member associations are able to focus on football rather than worrying about the next scandal or criminal investigation involving FIFA leadership," Prince Ali said in a statement.

Prince Ali, backed by UEFA and Platini in his battle for the FIFA hot seat in May, was considered an outsider with Platini running to replace Blatter. But with Platini's reputation on the line amid an ethics probe into the Blatter payment, he will now fancy his chances of replacing the outgoing president of the scandal-tainted organisation.

Chung Mong-joon, a former FIFA vice president, is the only other serious contender for the top job in world football at this stage. On Tuesday, the South Korean voicedsupport for the Swiss and US investigations into alleged FIFA corruption and said "justice must be served".

"Resuscitating FIFA, however, should be left to those who love football. The future of football should not be left in the hands of outsiders," he was quoted in a Reuters report.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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