ZURICH — (CNN) Sepp Blatter’s tenure as FIFA president suffered a new blow after the Swiss Attorney General opened criminal proceedings against him on “suspicion of criminal mismanagement.”
A statement released by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) of Switzerland confirmed it was examining a contract signed by Blatter with the Caribbean Football Union and an alleged “disloyal payment” of $2 million to UEFA president Michel Platini.
The statement was released after Blatter was interrogated by OAG representatives Friday following a meeting of the FIFA Executive committee in Zurich.
The statement also confirmed that the OAG had conducted a house search at FIFA headquarters with the help of the police. It also said that Blatter’s office had been searched and “data seized.”
“The OAG suspects that on 12 September 2005 Mr. Joseph Blatter has signed a contract with the Caribbean Football Union (with Jack Warner as the President at this time); this contract was unfavorable for FIFA,” said the statement.
“On the other hand, there is as suspicion that, in the implementation of this agreement, Joseph Blatter also violated his fiduciary duties and acted against the interest of FIFA and/or FIFA Marketing & TV AG.
“Additionally, Mr. Joseph Blatter is suspected of a disloyal payment of two million Swiss Francs to Michel Platini, President of Union of European Football Association (UEFA), at the expense of FIFA, which was allegedly made for work performed between January 1999 and June 2002 ; this payment was executed in February 2011,” added the statement.
UEFA was not immediately available for comment after the OAG said that Platini had been “heard as a person asked to provide information.”
In a statement, FIFA said it had been “cooperating” and has “complied with all requests for documents, date and other information.”
It added: “We will continue this level of cooperation throughout the investigation. We will have no further comment on the matter as it is an active investigation.”
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