International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) has on Wednesday announced that it has extended the ban on its former president, Sepp Blatter by six years and eight months for receiving ‘extraordinary bonuses’.
Former FIFA secretary-general, Jerome Valcke also had his existing suspension extended by the same amount of time.
The new bans will only come into force when the current bans on Blatter and Valcke for corruption, which last till October this year and October 2025, end.
Blatter, 85, received 23 million Swiss francs ($24.6 million) in “extraordinary bonuses” linked to 2010 World Cup in South Africa and 2014 World Cup in Brazil as well as Confederations Cup tournament in Brazil that preceded it, FIFA’s Ethics Committee said in a statement.
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Valcke, a 60-year-old Frenchman who was Blatter’s right-hand man during his 17-year reign at the head of football’s world governing body, received 30 million Swiss francs over the same period, the committee said.
Ethics Committee said Blatter and Valcke broke rules in FIFA’s Code of Ethics including “offering and accepting gifts or other benefits” and “abuse of position”.
Additionally, Ethics Committee said it has also fined each man one million Swiss francs.
The new bans will only come into force when the current bans on Blatter and Valcke, which last till October this year and October 2025, end.
Blatter was forced to stand down as FIFA president in 2015 and was originally banned by FIFA for eight years, later reduced to six, over ethics breaches when he was found to have authorised a two-million-euro “disloyal payment” to former UEFA president Michel Platini.
Valcke was initially banned for 12 years but it was reduced to 10 years on appeal.
Via AFP.
