FIFA Charges Blatter With Another Criminal Offence

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has filed a lawsuit against its former president, Sepp Blatter over suspected “criminal mismanagement” in a museum project.

EKO HOT BLOG gathered that FIFA sued Blatter for being an accomplice of another corruption scandal while he was president of the governing body.

FIFA files criminal complaint against Blatter over museum finance https://t.co/8ff9C6tfyd

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) December 23, 2020

According to reports Football’s governing body says the museum’s project in downtown Zurich is set to cost them “half a billion Swiss Francs that’s could and should have been focused on the development of world football.”

A FIFA statement said: “The complaint includes the entire project costs at CHF 500 million, and identifies that the previous FIFA administration poured CHF 140 million into renovating and refurbishing a building that the organisation doesn’t own, while also locking itself into a long-term rental agreement on unfavourable terms when compared to standard market rates, which, in total, will cost FIFA CHF 360 million by the date of expiration in 2045.

“That is half a billion Swiss Francs that could and should have been channeled into the development of global football.

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Lorenz Erni, Blatter’s lawyer, outlines the allegations as being “baseless and vehemently repudiated”.

The governing body indicates that all documents pertaining to the matter will be submitted to the independent Ethics Committee, so that it may instigate whatever investigation it considers appropriate given the circumstances.

Blatter was banned from all football activities for eight years, reduced to six on appeal, in 2015 over what was deemed to be a “disloyal payment” made to Michel Platini in 2011, but the 84-year-old denied any wrongdoing.