FIFA's ethics watchdog wants Michel Platini banned for life over a suspect payment, the European football chief's lawyer told AFP on Tuesday. Platini, a FIFA vice president, is already serving a 90-day suspension while an investigation is held into a $2 million sum he received from FIFA president Sepp Blatter who is also suspended. Platini's lawyer Thibaud d'Ales revealed the FIFA's life ban demand which he described as a "scandal" and "excessive".
"This ban is subject to the proof of corruption, but the punishment is clearly excessive," D'Ales said. "It's not based on anything in the case." Blatter's representatives refused to comment on whether the same request has been made against the Swiss official.
FIFA's adjudicatory chamber announced Monday that it has opened a case against Blatter and Platini and that it was aiming to announce a decision next month. Both men have denied any wrongdoing though they admit there was no contract for the payment. Until a decision is taken, Platini, the president of UEFA, cannot take part in the race to become Blatter's successor as president of FIFA. Platini is one of six candidates to run football's scandal-hit ruling body with the election scheduled for February 26. But he will not be allowed to take part unless he passes a FIFA integrity test which cannot be conducted while he is suspended.
D'Ales maintained there was a concerted effort inside FIFA to prevent Platini taking part. The 60-year-old French football legend had been favourite for the FIFA post until the latest charges were announced. The French newspaper Liberation first revealed the life ban demand and the lawyer said this was a deliberate leak. "It's a pure scandal, and by making it public there's clearly an intention to cause harm.
"The masks are slipping one by one at FIFA - the electoral timetable is being manipulated and there is a strategy to get rid of Platini as a candidate." FIFA's investigative committee said the report with requested sanctions had been handed over to Platini and Blatter's legal teams.
"I can confirm that Michel Platini and his lawyers have got the report and they have also received the request of the investigative committee," spokesman Andreas Bantel told AFP, without saying what sanction demanded. "They know what is in the report and they are free to comment on it," he added. On Saturday, FIFA's ethics committee, citing privacy and the presumption of innocence, said it would not disclose the nature of the punishments requested against Platini and Blatter. Swiss prosecutors said in October that Blatter is under criminal investigation for mismanagement at FIFA.