Wednesday 24 March 2021

FIFA Imposes Fines On Blatter, Valcke. Extends Bans By 6 Years, 8 Months

 


Former FIFA President, Sepp Blatter has been handed a new ban of six years and eight months from football, said world football's governing body.


Ex-FIFA General Secretary, Jerome Valcke has received a similar punishment, with both also being fined £780,000.

FIFA said the bans were for "various violations" of its code of ethics.

The new bans start when the current suspensions of Blatter and Valcke end in October 2021 and October 2025 respectively.
 

The former FIFA President, alongside then UEFA President (a 3-time Balon d'or winner) Michel Platini and then FIFA Secretary General, Jerome Valcke, were provisionally suspended for 90 days in October 2015 for ethics violations.

Platini is already serving an 8-year ban from "all football-related activities" since 2015.

Adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee sanctions Mr Joseph S. Blatter and Mr Jérôme Valcke
24 Mar 2021


The adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee has found Mr Joseph S. Blatter, former FIFA President, and Mr Jérôme Valcke, former FIFA Secretary General, guilty of various violations of the FIFA Code of Ethics (FCE).

The investigations into Messrs Blatter and Valcke covered various charges, in particular concerning bonus payments in relation to FIFA competitions that were paid to top FIFA management officials, various amendments and extensions of employment contracts, as well as reimbursement by FIFA of private legal costs in the case of Mr Valcke.

In its decisions, the adjudicatory chamber ruled that Mr Blatter had breached art. 15 (Duty of loyalty), art. 19 (Conflicts of interest) and art. 20 (Offering and accepting gifts or other benefits) of the FCE, while Mr Valcke was found to have violated art. 15 (Duty of loyalty), art. 19 (Conflicts of interest), art. 20 (Offering and accepting gifts or other benefits) and art. 25 (Abuse of position) of the FCE. In the calculation of the sanctions to be imposed, the adjudicatory chamber applied the principle of lex mitior and art. 11 of the 2018 edition of the FCE, which stipulates a maximum limit on the applicable sanction. Consequently, Messrs Blatter and Valcke have both been sanctioned with bans from all football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other) at both national and international level for a period of six years and eight months. In addition, fines to the amount of CHF 1,000,000 have been imposed on both Messrs Blatter and Valcke.

The motivated decisions were notified to Messrs Blatter and Valcke today, and have also been published on legal.fifa.com. As the previous bans from taking part in all football-related activity imposed on Messrs Blatter and Valcke by the independent Ethics Committee in 2015 and 2016 have not yet been purged, the bans notified today will only come into force upon the expiry of the previous bans (i.e. on 8 October 2021 and 8 October 2025, respectively).

FIFA Media

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