By: Omar Jatta
The suspended former FIFA President Joseph Sepp Blatter, and UEFA’s President Michel Platini have been handed lengthy bans from football by the FIFA Ethics Committee.
Both men who were serving suspensions since October over a £1.3m payment made by the organisation to Mr Platini in 2011 are now been given a eight year ban from the game, after being found guilty of breaches surrounding the “disloyal payment” made to Patini. The pair have also been fined £33,700 ($40,000) and £54,000 ($80,000) respectively.
However, they are both still adamant of doing no wrong. They said the payment was money Platini was due to have received for some work he carried out for Blatter between 1998 and 2002 as his “special advisor”.But what left must people unconvinced and the Ethics Committee, is the timing of the payment which came nine years late, in 2011, and, ironically it coincided withPlatini’s decision to withdraw from running against Blatter in the 2011 FIFA Presidential elections having initially announced his candidacy, and then Blatter wentold on to win unopposed.
The two men failed in their efforts to convince the Ethics Committee with their side of the story, which led to the decision to ban them both.
In their their statement the committee made it clear that they were not convinced by both men’s explanations that there was an “oral agreement” over the payment, which was rejected as “not convincing”.
The Committee admitted it had not found evidence that the payment, made at a time when Blatter was seeking re-election, constituted a bribe, but that it had nevertheless lacked transparency and presented a conflict of interest.
“The evidence available to the adjudicatory chamber in the present case was not sufficient to establish, to the extent required, that Mr Blatter sought the execution or omission of an official act from Mr Platini,” they said in their statement, referring to the ‘bribery and corruption’ section of the code.
It was also stated clearly that both have acted in their self interests rather than the organisation’s by not “abstaining from things contrary to it’s interest”.
“By failing to place FIFA’s interests first and abstain from doing anything which could be contrary to FIFA’s interests, Mr Blatter violated his fiduciary duty to FIFA,” it said.
The chamber concluded that Blatter’s actions ultimately demonstrated “an abusive execution of his position as President of FIFA”.
The committee was also very critical of Platini’s credibility and lack of awareness in showing the importance of his duties and concomitant obligations and responsibilities.
“Mr Platini failed to act with complete credibility and integrity, showing unawareness of the importance of his duties and concomitant obligations and responsibilities,” it added.
Upon receiving the verdict from the committee a defiant Blatter faced reporters with great defiance, refuting all outcomes of the enquiry and Vowed he will go to the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport and to a Swiss human rights court in a bid to get his ban on all football-related activities overturned.
“I will fight, for me, for FIFA,” said Blatter. “Banned eight years, for what?”
“I am still the president,” he insisted. “I’m sorry as president of FIFA that I’m this punching ball.” He told reporters at the press conference in Zurich.
He futher denounced the Ethics Committee, saying it had no right to “go against the president of FIFA” and that “something is wrong in this system.”
He continued by expressing his disappointment over the reason why the Ethics Committee had not informed him personally before releasing the statement about his ban to the media.
“Why are the media informed before me?” he asked.
The ban’s extricated two of the most influential bodies in World football, whose grip on power at the helm of the ball game was never relenting. No surprise Blatter even at 79 is refusing to be sidelined from the game he had headed for nearly two decades. He had already resigned as the head of FIFA.
Platini though will be the one ruing the outcome which has effectively eliminated all his hopes of becoming the next boss of World football, a position he has always yarned for.
His clear dispppintment was evident in his decision to boycott his hearing in Zurich on Friday in protest, after claiming a decision already appeared to have been made before the enquiry was even completeed following reports on a French newspaper which said at the time that both him and Blatter face lengthy bans from football.
He is also taking this lying down and has made it clear he intends to fight the ban.
“Parallel to going to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, I am determined to apply to, at the right time, civil courts to obtain damages for all the prejudice I have suffered over very long weeks,” said Platini.
In the meantime, Platini has not lost the support of his European counterparts as Uefa issued a statement, revealing it is “extremely disappointed” with the decision.
It added: “Once again, Uefa supports Michel Platini’s right to a due process and the opportunity to clear his name.
