Sepp Blatter tells he will not leave his position as Fifa president just because of the criminal proceedings started by the Swiss investigators against him.
The 79-year-old Swiss was blamed for signing a pact that was “unfavourable to Fifa” and making a “disloyal payment” to Michel Platini, the Uefa president.
Blatter claimed he “had done nothing illegal or improper” though he had already confirmed that he will give up his rank in February 2016.
The 60-year-old Platini has written a letter to Uefa members saying he hasn’t done anything wrong.
In a statement revealed by his lawyers, Blatter said a £1.5m payment in 2011 was made to Platini, the head of European football’s governing body, was a “valid compensation and nothing more”.
Fifa’s independent ethics committee investigated both men over the payment. According to Platini, it was for work as Blatter’s technical advisor between 1999 and 2002.
The officers from Swiss attorney general’s office interviewed Platini as a witness. He tried to make his point clear that the payment had been “fully declared” to the authorities.
The Frenchman said he was “aware that these events may harm my image and reputation” and revealed “reasons of transparency”.
The 2011 installment came nine years after Platini’s work for Blatter – and two months before Uefa gave its sponsorship to the Swiss before a presidential decision.
That is something that now must be clarified, as per Scottish FA CEO Stewart Regan.
The agreement – portrayed by Swiss prosecutors as “unfavorable to Fifa” – is thought to allude to a 2005 TV rights arrangement in the middle of Fifa and Jack Warner, the previous president of Concacaf, the administering assemblage of football in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
As indicated by an examination by Swiss supporter SRF in September, the arrangement purportedly brought about a multi-million-pound benefit for Warner’s organization.
World overseeing body Fifa, which has been hit by a few defilement charges as of late, has said it is co-working with the examination concerning Blatter.
Previous Brazil legend Zico, who plans to remain in February’s presidential decision, approached Fifa’s morals board of trustees to “act with great transparency” in a public statement to the association.
“It must disclose all its procedures so that reforms and Fifa elections are not contaminated by suspicions of corruption,” he wrote.
Not long ago the United States prosecuted 14 present and previous Fifa authorities and partners on charges of “rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted” debasement taking after a noteworthy request by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
In the interim, a different Swiss examination is investigating the offering procedure for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, which will be held in Russia and Qatar individually.
