Ex-FIFA president Sepp Blatter loses appeal against 6-year ban

The Court of Arbitration for Sport was judging whether Blatter was guilty of unethically offering a cash gift and conflict of interest with Platini, who was a FIFA vice-president in 2011.

Blatter and Platini both said the $2 million was uncontracted salary based on a verbal agreement more than a decade earlier. From 1999 to 2002, the former France great was the newly elected Blatter’s presidential adviser.

However, their explanation of a salary deal was doubted by FIFA ethics judges, and by the three-member CAS panel on Monday.

“The payment amounted to an undue gift as it had no contractual basis,” CAS said in a statement.

The FIFA ethics committee investigated after the payment emerged in September 2015 during a wider Swiss federal probe of alleged corruption linked to FIFA.

Blatter and Platini — whose FIFA presidential bid was stalled, then ended, by the case — were banned from soccer duty for eight years last December. The FIFA appeal committee cut two years from both men’s bans as “appropriate recognition” for their long service.

After a separate CAS appeal hearing, Platini’s ban was reduced in May to four years, ensuring he lost the UEFA presidency.

When Blatter’s case came to CAS in August, Platini testified on his behalf during a 14-hour hearing.

Article Appeared @https://www.thestar.com/sports/soccer/2016/12/05/ex-fifa-president-sepp-blatter-loses-appeal-against-6-year-ban.html

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