ZURICH: Scandal-tainted FIFA’s ethics watchdog was locked in talks on Wednesday to decide the fate of world football President Sepp Blatter as attacks on the veteran sports baron mounted.
The ethics committee tribunal was also to decide whether to take action against UEFA leader Michael Platini and former FIFA Vice President Chung Mong-Joon, both candidates to take over from Blatter.
Chung hit out at Blatter on Wednesday, calling him “a hypocrite and a liar” and threatening a legal case for embezzlement of FIFA funds.
The 79-year-old Swiss official Blatter, who has ruled FIFA for 17 years, insisted in a German magazine interview however that he would not be forced out of office before an election to be held in February.
FIFA has kept the activities of its independent ethics committee cloaked in secrecy in recent months as accusations of corruption have mounted.
But a Senegalese member of the committee’s adjudicatory chamber, FIFA’s highest court, said it started a five-day meeting on Monday with Blatter and the other two officials on the agenda.
Abdoulaeye Makhtar Diop, a former Senegal sports minister, said in a statement: “the members will focus on the topics of the Swiss Sepp Blatter, FIFA president, the Frenchman Michel Platini, president of UEFA, and the South Korean Chung Mong-Joon.”
FIFA officials refused to comment on the disclosure.
But the world body, fighting off multiple corruption accusations, has been forced to consider suspending its president since Swiss authorities opened an investigation for “criminal mismanagement” against Blatter.
Platini has also been implicated in the investigation because of a two million dollar (1.78 million euros) payment made to the French football legend in 2011.
FIFA’s secretary general Jerome Valcke was suspended last month following press allegations that linked him to the sale of World Cup tickets at inflated prices.
Blatter won a fifth term of office on May 29, despite a major storm over a US inquiry into the football business. But four days later he announced he would stand down when a new election is held on February 26.
Despite the new allegations, Blatter said he will carry on until the election.
“I will fight until Feb.26. For me. And for FIFA,” he told Bunte, a German magazine.
“I am convinced that evil will come into the light and good will triumph.”
Platini had been favorite to win the election until the Swiss investigation named him. His entourage said that he did not appear before the FIFA commission this week and that he feels he has done nothing wrong.
“The president feels that he has given satisfactory explanations to the authorities that are dealing with this case,” Platini’s spokesman, Pedro Pinto, told reporters in London.
Platini, Chung and Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein, a former FIFA vice president from Jordan, are the main candidates for the election so far.
Chung is under investigation because of his lobbying for South Korea’s bid for the 2022 World Cup, which Qatar controversially won.
The South Korean tycoon says FIFA has cleared him of the charges once in 2012 and that the new charges are part of a Blatter campaign to block his bid for the presidency.
Chung returned to the attack on Wednesday at the Leaders Sport Business convention in London, saying Swiss lawyers could launch a $100 million “embezzlement” case against Blatter.
Chung, a FIFA vice president for 17 years until 2011, condemned what he called Blatter’s “secretive” ways in not declaring his salary and taking payments without permission.
He said Blatter had “repeatedly meddled” in the elections of major football confederations and FIFA votes.
“FIFA has become a badge of shame,” he said. “In short Mr.Blatter is a hypocrite and a liar.”
Chung said the FIFA ethics committee has sought a 15-year ban against him. He called it a “smear campaign” by Blatter.
FIFA tribunal to decide Blatter’s fate
FIFA tribunal to decide Blatter’s fate
Jones leads after blemish-free 65 at Address Marassi
- Englishman holds 1-shot advantage as 3 players share second at Egypt Golf Series
AL-ALAMEIN, Egypt: England’s Ben Jones carded a bogey-free seven-under-par 65 to take the first-round lead at the Egypt Golf Series Address Marassi Golf Resort 2, the third event of the MENA Golf Tour’s four-tournament Egypt swing.
Jones holds a one-shot advantage over three players at six under — Italy’s Giovanni Manzoni, Scotland’s Michael Stewart and Spain’s Juan Salama — as players returned to the resort course for the second consecutive week.
Jones said: “It was a bit fortunate the first day by getting the right side of the wind and that’s when you have to take advantage of the course.”
“I hit it really solid all day, stayed out of trouble and had no dropped shots, so I’m really happy with that. It’s probably my best round of the year so far and hopefully I can keep that going.
“I nearly holed one on eight and for a second I thought it was in, and then on the final putt of the day I nearly grabbed another birdie. It hit the back of the hole but just didn’t drop. I maybe hit it a little firm because I misjudged the wind down there.”
Scotland’s Stewart said: “I played really nicely today. I felt like I had good control of my ball in the wind, which was really important out there. The preparation over the last few days definitely helped, and last week’s final round was very breezy as well, so that experience carried over.
“I would not say it is getting easier, because it is not, but you do start putting yourself in better positions because you understand the course and the misses a bit more.
“Overall, it just felt like one of those days where I played really solid golf, gave myself plenty of chances, and managed to take a few of them.”
Salama enjoyed a tale of two halves having teed off on the 10th, with six birdies on his back nine, the course’s front nine, transforming his round.
“Six under is obviously very pleasing, but it really felt like two completely different nines out there,” said the Spaniard.
“The front nine was quite tough and I started a little cold with the putter. On the back nine everything clicked, the putter got hot and I was able to make six birdies, which made a huge difference.
“Finishing the round by holing that putt on my final hole was a great feeling and gives me a lot of confidence going into tomorrow.”
Italy’s Ludovico Addabbo, second in the MENA Golf Tour Rankings and alone in fifth at five under, went blemish-free on the card, which included an eagle on the fourth hole and three birdies on the back nine.
Rankings leader Chris Wood, who won last week’s Marassi 1 event in a dramatic playoff, is among a large group at one-over par following an opening 73 as he looks for a repeat win at the venue.
The Egypt Golf Series has $100,000 in prize money and Official World Golf Ranking points on offer. Following this week’s event, the Tour concludes its Egypt Swing at Madinaty Golf Club in Cairo from Feb. 3 to 5.
