FIFA Ethics Committee Extends Valcke’s Ban For Another 45 Days
Jerome Valcke (FIFA Secretary General)[/caption]
FIFA ethics committee, on Wednesday extended the ban on Secretary General Jerome Valcke’s temporary suspension with 45 more days, while it processes corruption allegations against him.
Investigators for the ethics committee had recommended on Tuesday that Valcke be banned for nine years and fined 100,000 Swiss francs ($98,990.30).
He was charged with violating the FIFA code of ethics while serving as President Sepp Blatter’s secretary general since 2007.
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Valcke’s suspension followed allegations of involvement in a ticketing scam, in which he was accused of selling Brazil World Cup tickets on the black market at above their face value.
The 55-year old French administrator has denied all wrongdoing in the case, which is among dozens of allegations rocking soccer’s governing body, caught up in worst graft scandal of its history.
FIFA ethics judges are expected to hear the case within weeks.
The committee said in its statement that it’s chief judge Hans-Joachim Eckert had suspended Valcke for another 45 days pending a final judgement, after a previous 90-day ban expired. Valcke was also placed on indefinite leave by FIFA in September.
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The statement read: “The adjudicatory chamber of the Ethics Committee chaired by Mr Hans-Joachim Eckert has decided to extend the suspension of Mr Jerome Valcke by 45 days.
“The extension of the suspension starts from today,” it added.
Valcke’s lawyer on Tuesday blasted the FIFA investigators, insisting that his client “did absolutely nothing wrong as any independent and fair review of the facts would establish.”
“The Investigatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee has chosen to ignore Jerome Valcke’s exemplary conduct and extraordinary contributions during his long tenure as Secretary General,” Barry Berke added in a statement.
He insisted that the demand for a nine-year-ban was “nothing more than a self-serving public relations effort to wrongly attack Mr. Valcke in a desperate attempt to try to prove that FIFA can police itself.”
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The Secretary General’s case follows eight-year bans imposed by the ethics committee on Blatter and Michel Platini last month. They also deny wrongdoing and have pledged to appeal those sanctions.
