President Blatter faces FIFA probe

GENEVA (AP):

FIFA placed its own president under investigation yesterday in a widening bribery scandal just days before Sepp Blatter faces re-election against Mohamed bin Hammam.

With both candidates now under investigation, it is unclear how this will affect Wednesday's election.

Blatter is accused of ignoring alleged bribes to Caribbean voters and soccer's governing body said he must submit a statement by today before appearing at an ethics committee hearing in Zurich the next day.

"I cannot comment on the proceedings that have been opened against me," Blatter said in a statement released by his advisers. "The facts will speak for themselves."

Denying accusations

Bin Hammam denies accusations of buying votes. The Qatari official contends there is "increasing evidence of a conspiracy" against him and he is confident the ethics panel will "see through this tawdry manoeuvre" to remove him from the race.

Namibian judge Petrus Damaseb, who will chair the ethics hearing, is to deliver the panel's initial findings tomorrow night at FIFA headquarters.

The candidates could be banned if wrongdoing is found, or provisionally suspended if the panel needs more time to study evidence.

On Thursday, Bin Hammam requested that FIFA also investigate Blatter in the affair that has thrown the sport's leadership into chaos.

British Sports Minister Hugh Robertson said the election had "descended into a farce" and should be postponed.

Michel Platini, president of European soccer's ruling organisation and a former French soccer great, is a contender to be FIFA president in 2015. He said in London yesterday he expected next week's election to be held.

"To not have elections, you need three-quarters of the assembly who will say, "No elections'," said Platini, a FIFA executive member for nine years who has never been linked to scandal. "You know the people who are corrupt; they know who can be corruptible. They know I am incorruptible."

In Moscow, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin offered support to Blatter, calling the allegations against him "complete nonsense".

Putin was a key figure in Russia's winning bid for the 2018 World Cup.

Bin Hammam and senior FIFA official Jack Warner were summoned Wednesday to go before an ethics panel on charges of bribing voters during a Caribbean campaign visit.