Formal proceedings have been opened against suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter and UEFA chief Michel Platini in relation to a payment made by the Swiss to the Frenchman in 2011, the ethics committee of world football’s governing body has announced.
Blatter, 79, and Platini, 60, will have formal hearings later this month with a decision is expected before Christmas after Hans-Joachim Eckert, the German judge who heads the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA’s ethics committee, opened proceedings after studying reports from investigators.
Last week, both men had their appeals against 90-day suspensions rejected by the governing body’s appeals committee.
The provisional bans had been handed down after it emerged that Swiss authorities were investigating a two million Swiss franc (£1.35m) payment made by FIFA to Platini for work that was carried out nine years previously.
A statement from the adjudicatory chamber read: “The adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee chaired by Hans-Joachim Eckert has today opened formal adjudicatory proceedings against Joseph S. Blatter and Michel Platini based on the final reports submitted by the investigatory chamber.
“The adjudicatory chamber has studied the reports carefully and decided to institute formal proceedings against the two officials.
“For reasons linked to privacy rights and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, the adjudicatory chamber will not publish details of the sanctions requested by the investigatory chamber in its final reports.
“In the course of the proceedings, both parties will be invited to submit positions including any evidence with regard to the final reports of the investigatory chamber (art. 70 par. 2 of the FIFA Code of Ethics) and they may request a hearing (art. 74 par. 2 of the FCE).
“The adjudicatory chamber intends to come to a decision in both cases during the month of December.”
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