Michel Platini statement: Uefa president slams 'insidious' Fifa leaks, claims part of bid to 'damage my reputation'

Frenchman is planning to stand for election for Fifa presidency

Michel Platini (Getty images)

UEFA president Michel Platini has insisted reports that he is to be suspended by FIFA's ethics committee are "insidious" leaks that are "essentially an attempt to damage my reputation".

Platini and FIFA president Sepp Blatter are both facing a provisional 90-day suspension while ethics committee investigations continue into a £1.35million payment made to the Frenchman by FIFA in 2011.

Platini said in a statement: "It was reported last night that the investigatory chamber of the FIFA ethics committee intends to recommend to its adjudicatory chamber that I be given a 90-day suspension.

"This is clearly an extremely serious matter - all the more so given that this information appears to have come from an official FIFA source, despite the fact that the ethics committee, which is supposed to act with full independence, has not yet issued its decision.

"This deliberate leak - which is insidious in nature and has come about in an unacceptable manner - is essentially an attempt to damage my reputation."

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