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FIFA

Banned Blatter keeps apartment — and pay

Fifa has told its banned leader Sepp Blatter he will have to leave his presidential apartment in Zurich by February 26th when a successor is elected, a source close to the world body said on Tuesday.

Banned Blatter keeps apartment — and pay
Blatter at press conference after ban ruling on Monday. Photo: Michèle Limina/AFP

The apartment in an old Zurich house that has been divided is one of the perks Blatter, 79, will lose after his eight-year suspension pronounced on Monday by Fifa's ethics court.
   
He automatically loses his Fifa mobile phone and his professional email address, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
   
But the disgraced Fifa leader, found guilty of a conflict of interest over a two-million-franc ($2 million) payment to Fifa vice-president Michel Platini does not lose all privileges, the source said.
   
“He is still protected by his labour contract” under Swiss law, said the source.
   
So Blatter will get his salary — for which he has refused to reveal the amount — his Fifa car and apartment until the contract ends on February 26th.
   
A Fifa congress is to be held on that day to elect a new president and agree reforms to the scandal-tainted body.

Meanwhile, Blatter's lawyers said he is ready to take “all legal steps” to clear his name after he was banned from football for eight years by a Fifa court over ethics violations.

“President Blatter is eager to present his arguments to the appeal committee,” his Zurich-based lawyer Lorenz Erni and Virginia-based counsel Richard Cullen said in a joint statement issued on Tuesday.
   
After Fifa announced his suspension on Monday, Blatter held a defiant press conference in which he said he would first challenge the suspension at a Fifa appeals committee before going to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), if necessary.
   
“President Blatter is prepared to take all legal steps to prevail on the remaining charges and clear his name,” his lawyers said.
     
Blatter has not hidden his desire to secure reinstatement in time for a Fifa congress on February 26th, when his replacement will be elected.
   
But despite his impending appeals, Blatter's chances of ever returning to Fifa may have suffered a fatal blow with Monday's verdict.

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FOOTBALL

Trial over 2006 German World Cup corruption opens in Switzerland

Three former German football officials and ex-FIFA Secretary General Urs Linsi went on trial on Monday in Switzerland over suspicions that Germany bought votes to obtain the 2006 World Cup.

Trial over 2006 German World Cup corruption opens in Switzerland
Photo: FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP

The three defendants have indicated that they will not be present at the hearing in Bellinzona for a variety of reasons, including fear of travelling because of coronavirus contagion.

Swiss Linsi, 70, former German Football Association (DFB) presidents Wolfgang Niersbach, 69, and Theo Zwanziger, 74, and 78-year-old former DFB General Secretary Horst R. Schmidt are being prosecuted for “fraud”.

They are accused by the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office (BA) of concealing from the DFB the true destination of a transfer of 6.7 million euros ($7.6 million today), paid in 2005 by the organising committee to former Adidas boss, the late Robert Louis-Dreyfus, via FIFA.

The case of former World Cup organising committee chairman Franz Beckenbauer is being heard separately because of the former Germany captain's poor health.

The investigation was prompted by a report in German publication Der Spiegel in 2015 that Germany had used a secret fund of 10 million Swiss francs (6.7 million euros at the time) to buy votes and obtain the rights to host the competition at the expense of South Africa.

Beckenbauer is suspected of having asked Louis-Dreyfus, to contribute to this fund shortly before the vote on the host in the summer of 2000.

Louis-Dreyfus was allegedly reimbursed by the German Football Association on the pretext of expenses related to a FIFA gala evening, which ever took place.

Zwanziger, Niersbach and Schmidt have also been charged with tax fraud in Germany and the case is expected to come to trial in the coming months. cpb/pb/td

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