Zurich: World football’s governing body FIFA on Wednesday rejected the appeals lodged by president Sepp Blatter and vice president Michel Platini against 90-day bans on them.
They were suspended in October after FIFA’s ethics committee began investigating allegations of corruption against them, which prevent Blatter from working as its chief and stops Platini from campaigning for the presidential election on February 26.
Blatter is accused of signing a contract “unfavourable” to FIFA and making a “disloyal payment”, amounting to 2 million euros ($2.13 million) to Platini, who is also European football governing body’s president.
Both men have vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
“The FIFA Appeal Committee, chaired by Larry Mussenden, rejected in full the appeals lodged by Joseph S. Blatter and Michel Platini and confirmed in their entirety the respective decisions concerning provisional measures taken by the adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee,” FIFA said in a statement.
The decisions have been communicated to Blatter and Platini on Wednesday, FIFA said and added that the decisions could be appealed before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Blatter is under investigation by Switzerland’s attorney general for suspected financial mismanagement of FIFA’s money. The Swiss authority has also interrogated Platini for his role.
IANS