Sepp Blatter: Fifa launch investigation into former president for alleged bribery and corruption

Blatter is currently serving a six-year ban from football after being removed from his role as Fifa president last year

The then president of world football is showered with fake money in a satirical stunt by comedian Lee Nelson in Zurich last year (Getty)

Fifa have launched a formal investigation into former president Sepp Blatter over allegations of violating the governing body’s rules regarding bribery and corruption as well as offering and accepting gifts.

Fifa have also confirmed that former general secretaries, Jerome Valcke, and Markus Kattner, are also being investigated for the same alleged offences.

Kattner faces a further charge related to a breach of confidentiality.

According to Press Association, the case relates to the large salaries that Blatter, Valcke and Kattner allegedly paid themselves, while they are also accused of leaking information about Blatter’s replacement as Fifa president, Gianni Infantino.

A Fifa statement said: "The deputy chairman of the investigatory chamber of the ethics committee, Djimbaraye Bourngar, has opened formal proceedings against Joseph Blatter, former president of Fifa, Jerome Valcke, former secretary general of Fifa, and Markus Kattner, former acting secretary general and director of finance & corporate services.

"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 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."

Blatter resigned as Fifa president last year, just days after winning a presidential election to stand for a fifth term as the ruler of world football. He was ejected from office in December by Fifa’s Ethics Committee and banned from all football activity for eight years – reduced to six years on appeal – and replaced by former Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino earlier this year.

In September 2015, criminal proceedings were opened against Blatter by the Swiss Attorney General’s office regarding allegations of criminal mismanagement and misappropriation over a payment to former Uefa president Michel Platini, which was made in 2011 for work carried out by Platini from 1998 to 2002.

The 80-year-old Swiss has repeatedly denied all accusations of wrongdoing. Platini, who also received an eight-year ban reduced to six on appeal, also denies wrongdoing. The former French football took his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport [Cas] where it was reduced further to four years.

After having his ban reduced from eight to six years by the Fifa appeals committee, Blatter took his case to the Cas, and he is currently awaiting the result of that hearing. Blatter could, like Platini, see his ban reduced further if successful.


 Both Valcke (left) and Blatter are currently banned from football 
 (AP)

Valcke, who served as Blatter's right-hand man from 2007 to 2015, has also already been banned from all football activities by Fifa. The 55-year-old Frenchman was given a 12-year ban in February for misconduct related to his expenses, the use of Fifa resources and the sale of World Cup tickets.

Kattner, who was Valcke's deputy, has not been sanctioned before but was unceremoniously sacked in May.

A month later, the American law firm Fifa hired to help repair the damage from its well-documented corruption scandal alleged that Blatter, Kattner and Valcke had shared £60million in pay rises and bonuses between 2011 and 2015.

This information has been passed onto the Swiss authorities as they appear to breach corporate governance laws.


 Platini saw his ban reduced to four years on appeal 
 (Getty)

With the careers of these men in sports politics already surely finished, it is debatable what more Fifa can do to them. But this move may provide some good clues as to how that Swiss criminal inquiry will go. It will also give Infantino another chance to show his commitment to a fresh start at Fifa's Zurich headquarters.

The need for him to keep doing that cannot be underestimated as the earlier Swiss and US investigations into Fifa's wider corrupt practices over the last decade or so continue, and the Swiss are still looking at the 2010 decision to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively.


 Blatter is currently awaiting the outcome of his own appeal to Cas (Getty)
 (Getty Images)

And if that was not bad enough, there are also inquiries under way into the 2006 and 2010 World Cups that could bring even more embarrassment and shame to Fifa's door.