Sepp Blatter yesterday was trying to save his FIFA presidency facing a committee he helped create and whose authority he does not recognize in his case, while in Moscow, he received some high-level support.
The suspended head of the world soccer body was expected to tell four judges he is innocent of wrongdoing during the hearing at FIFA headquarters, the first time Blatter has entered the building since he was banned for 90 days in October.
In 2012, Blatter was key to empowering a tougher and more independent FIFA ethics committee that he now insists cannot remove an elected president.
With a large bandage on his face, Blatter arrived at FIFA headquarters shortly after 7am GMT in a chauffeur-driven car for a hearing that was scheduled to start at 9am.
A spokesman for Blatter, Thomas Renggli, said the Swiss official had a minor procedure to treat a skin problem on his right cheek.
Blatter risks a life ban if the verdict — due early next week — is guilty for approving a payment of about US$2 million from FIFA to UEFA president Michel Platini in 2011.
Platini was also banned for 90 days.
Platini has said he will boycott his hearing today, insisting the case has been decided in advance.
His lawyers say FIFA investigators have called for a life ban.
Separately, the Swiss Ministry of Justice said it had frozen millions of Swiss francs related to FIFA, a spokesman said yesterday, confirming a media report.
“US authorities asked for documents related to 50 accounts at different banks through which corruption money is supposed to have transited,” ministry spokesman Folco Galli said in a statement, confirming a report by Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger.
He said a “high double-digit million amount” had been frozen following the US query.
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin heaped praise on Blatter, saying he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work promoting soccer.
Blatter “is a very respected person” who has “done a great deal for the development of world soccer” and made a “colossal” humanitarian contribution, Putin said at his annual news conference.
“He tried to use soccer not just as a sport, but as an element of cooperation between nations and peoples,” Putin said. “He’s someone who should get the Nobel Peace Prize.”
Additional reporting by AFP and Bloomberg
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