GENEVA: FIFA ethics investigators called on Saturday for sanctions against president Sepp Blatter and European football boss Michel Platini, dealing a fresh blow to Platini’s bid to succeed Blatter as head of world football’s governing body.

Both men were suspended from their posts for 90 days on Oct 8 pending a full investigation, engulfed by a deepening corruption scandal as the sport faces criminal probes in Switzerland and the United States.

The investigatory chamber of FIFA’s ethics committee — acting independently of the organisation’s leadership — said on Saturday it had completed its inquiry into Blatter and Platini’s alleged financial wrongdoing, but did not say why it was recommending sanctions nor what those sanctions should be.

Its report will now be passed to the committee’s adjudicatory chamber, which will decide whether investigations should be pursued and on any potential sanctions.

Blatter and UEFA President Platini now face bans of several years at full hearings before FIFA ethics judge Joachim Eckert, likely in December.

Citing “privacy rights and the presumption of innocence”, the committee said it would not disclose the nature of the punishments requested against the two men, who for years were the most powerful figures in world football.

However, the announcement sparked an angry response from Platini’s lawyer, who said that FIFA had “lost all credibility”.

“The adjudicatory chamber will study the reports carefully and decide in due course about whether to institute formal adjudicatory proceedings,” the separate judging chamber said in a statement.

The case centers on a $2 million payment of FIFA money Blatter approved for Platini in 2011 — three months before a FIFA presidential election — as backdated salary.

Platini was employed by Blatter as a presidential adviser from 1998-2002. Both men deny wrongdoing, though they acknowledge there was no written contract.

Blatter has been FIFA president since 1998. Platini has been head of UEFA since 2007 and, until he was suspended, had been favourite to replace Blatter in FIFA’s Feb 26 presidential election.

Platini’s hopes of standing were put on hold because of his suspension. He has appealed to the Court of Arbitration of Sport against his provisional ban but, even if he wins and is allowed to stand, his plans would be scuppered if Eckert’s adjudicatory chamber accepts the investigation’s recommendations.

FIFA’s electoral committee has said Platini’s registration will not be processed while he is suspended, although it could reconsider its position if he wins an appeal.

Platini’s appeal was rejected in the first instance by FIFA’s Appeal Committee this week.

Both he and Blatter are challenging their interim 90-day bans at the Court of Arbitration for Sport which is expected to fast-track their cases.

The adjudicatory body has in the past recommended suspensions of several years, or even life.

“It is a troubling coincidence!” Thibaud d’Ales, representing Platini, told French news agency AFP on Saturday.

“The day after our appeal to the CAS against Michel Platini’s provisional suspension, the internal FIFA investigation is suddenly finished for Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter, even though the latter has been accused of more things.

“It’s farcical. It would be laughable if we were not talking about the future of the biggest non-governmental institution in the world. FIFA has lost all credibility. A decision taken by judges who don’t respect their own rules has no value.”

The ethics committee said its chief investigator Cornel Borbely was not involved in its investigation of Blatter as both men are Swiss.

“As the two proceedings are closely related and to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interests, Dr Borbely also withdrew from the proceedings against Michel Platini,” it added.

Instead, Robert Torres from Guam submitted the report on Blatter and Trinidadian Vanessa Allard compiled the report on Platini.

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2015