Sepp Blatter is not happy with a Fifa appeal committee’s refusal to cancel his 90-day ban and is committed to clearing his name through more appeals, his US lawyer said on Wednesday.
The committee rejected a bid by the Fifa president and Uefa chief Michel Platini to overturn their 90-day bans while Swiss police chase a criminal inquiry.
“President Blatter is disappointed by today’s decision,” his US lawyer Richard Cullen of McGuire Woods, said in a statement.
“Noticeably absent from the opinion and these proceedings is any evidence of any improper motivation or purpose for the agreement between Fifa and Mr Platini,” he added.
Fifa’s ethics committee decided on October 7 to suspend Blatter and Platini for 90 days after Swiss prosecutors launched a criminal mismanagement inquiry against Blatter. Part of the inquiry is into a $2 million payment made by Fifa to Platini in 2011 for work carried out a decade earlier.
His lawyer took issue with the decision being released just over two weeks after it was made on November 3.
“President Blatter is committed to clearing his name and hopes this inexplicable delay is not an effort to deny him, during his elected term, a fair hearing before a neutral body,” Cullen said.
“President Blatter will continue his appeals and looks forward to the opportunity to be heard including through the presentation of evidence and argument of counsel, and thereby demonstrate he has engaged in no misconduct.”
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