Sports
FIFA recommends nine-year ban for Valcke
The investigator for FIFA’s independent ethics committee on Tuesday recommended a nine-year ban for the organization’s former secretary general, Jérôme Valcke, who served as Sepp Blatter’s top deputy for nearly a decade before he was placed on leave in September amid a corruption inquiry.
The investigator, Cornel Borbély, also recommended that Mr. Valcke’s provisional suspension, which was to expire Tuesday, be extended by 45 days, as well as a fine of 100,000 Swiss francs (about $99,000). The judge of the ethics committee, Hans-Joachim Eckert, will issue a final ruling on the recommended punishment.
Mr. Valcke, 55, has been on disciplinary leave from FIFA since September, when he was accused of being involved in a scheme to sell 2014 World Cup tickets for personal profit.
He was suspended provisionally in October, along with Mr. Blatter, because of “the suspicion of misuse of expenses and other infringements.”
Read also: FIFA bans Blatter, Platini for 8yrs
Mr. Valcke has denied wrongdoing.
A statement Tuesday from FIFA did not specifically enumerate suspected wrongdoing, but said that Mr. Valcke had violated “general rules of conduct; loyalty; confidentiality; duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting; conflicts of interest; offering and accepting gifts and other benefits; and general obligation to collaborate.”
Mr. Valcke, a former journalist and television executive, joined FIFA in 2003 as marketing director but was fired in 2006 after a New York court found he had lied during sponsorship negotiations with credit card firms.
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