Fifa Opens Formal Bribery Case Against Sepp Blatter

Fifa, the World Football governing body has launched formal proceedings against former president Sepp Blatter whose tenure has been widely associated with corrupt practices.

Also under investigation are former general secretary and Blatter ally Jerome Valcke and former finance chief Marcus Kattner.

In the wake of Blatter’s suspension after being found guilty of ‘disloyal payment’ to former Uefa chief Michel Platini, Fifa revealed in June that Blatter, Valcke and Kattner had paid themselves bonuses worth tens of millions of dollars.

ESPN writes that the present charges relate to bribery and corruption, racketeering, accepting gifts and conflicts of interest.

A Fifa statement read: “The investigatory chamber will investigate possible violations of art. 13 (General rules of conduct), art. 15 (Loyalty), art. 19 (Conflicts of interest), art. 20 (Offering and accepting gifts and other benefits) and art. 21 (Bribery and corruption) of the FIFA Code of Ethics (FCE) in the context of salaries and bonuses paid to Mr Blatter, Mr Valcke and Mr Kattner as well as other provisions included in the contracts of these three individuals.

“Furthermore, the investigatory chamber will investigate a possible violation of art. 16 (Confidentiality) of the FCE by Mr Kattner.”

Valcke was banned 12 years by the Fifa Ethics Committee on charges of corruption, and along with Blatter, he’s facing criminal proceedings by Swiss federal prosecutors.