Blatter still being paid by FIFA despite suspension

By foxsports
Published

Sepp Blatter is still being paid by FIFA despite being suspended, a spokesman for the governing body's Audit and Compliance Committee has confirmed.

Blatter was suspended for 90 days by FIFA on October 8 and then banned from the game for eight years last month for ethics violations over a £1.35m ($2m) payment FIFA made to Michel Platini with Blatter's approval in 2011.

But Blatter, who has been president of FIFA since 1998, will continue to be paid until a new president is elected on February 26, the spokesman Andreas Bantel said.

That would mean Blatter would have been paid for nearly five months during which time he was unable to carry out his duties, and a period in which FIFA has appointed an acting president, African soccer head Issa Hayatou.

The compensation sub-committee of FIFA's Audit and Compliance Committee recently ruled that it could stop Blatter's bonuses but not, according to his contract, his salary.

"Until the election of a new president on February 26, Mr Blatter is the elected president and therefore - according to his contract - is entitled to receive his remuneration,"  Bantel said.

Blatter's lawyer and his Switzerland-based spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.

Michel Platini will be paid his salary by UEFA "until further notice" despite having been banned from football-related activity for eight years, the European governing body has revealed.

The confirmation comes after revealations about outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

UEFA said it would not disclose suspended president Platini's salary, nor that of general secretary Gianni Infantino. Infantino is running for the FIFA presidency with a manifesto that includes annual disclosure of the pay of the FIFA president, secretary-general and FIFA members. A UEFA spokesman said it will look to adopt the same measures on transparency in the future.

A UEFA statement said: "Mr Platini is receiving a salary from UEFA, and will continue to do so until further notice. Individual salaries are of a confidential nature and therefore are not disclosed."

FIFA is facing the worst corruption crisis in it history as a total of 41 individuals and entities, including many former FIFA officials, have been charged with corruption-related offenses in the United States. The US-led investigation is far from over and FIFA also faces a parallel Swiss probe.

Blatter's bonuses have been stopped because he was not carrying out his duties of supervising the organization, including its general secretary.

Only last week, FIFA announced that Jerome Valcke was fired from his position as general secretary. It gave no reason but an investigation had followed allegations of corruption related to World Cup ticket sales.