The Ethics Committee of the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) has cleared its suspended vice president, Michel Platini, of all corruption charges, according to Italian media reports.
However, there has been no official confirmation of this.
In early October, Platini, European football’s chief and then president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, were suspended for the period of 90 days from their posts as part of the investigation into corruption allegations against them.
Among a number of corruption allegations, Blatter is suspected of an illegal payment of two million Swiss francs to Platini in February 2011.
The adjudicatory chamber of the independent FIFA ethics committee held hearings into corruption charges on December 17 and 18, in regard to Blatter and Platini respectively, and on December 21 they were both suspended for the period of eight years from all football-related activities.
The committee also subjected both of the football executives to financial fines, obliging Blatter to pay 50,000 Swiss francs (over $50,300) and Platini – 80,000 Swiss francs (over $80,500).
On March 2, FIFA’s appeal committee ruled to reduce the suspension sentences for Platini and Blatter from eight to six years. Following the FIFA appeal committee’s ruling both Platini and Blatter submitted an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in Lausanne.
