Jerôme Valcke faces a nine-year ban from football, following an investigation into his activities by FIFA’s ethics committee.
Valcke, the FIFA General Secretary and a longstanding ally of suspended FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, was suspended for 90 days by the ethics committee on the same day as Blatter and Uefa president Michel Platini.
FIFA released a statement which said: “The chairman of the investigatory chamber of the ethics committee, Dr. Cornel Borbély, has concluded his investigation into the activities of the currently suspended FIFA secretary general, Jérôme Valcke, and handed over the respective report together with recommendations to the adjudicatory chamber of the ethics committee which is chaired by Mr Hans-Joachim Eckert.
“At the same time, Dr Borbély requested an extension of the suspension of Mr Valcke from all football-related activities for a further 45 days. The suspension imposed on Mr Valcke on October 7, 2015 for a duration of 90 days will end today, 5 January 2016, at midnight.
“In his final report, the chairman of the investigatory chamber of the ethics committee recommended imposing a sanction of a nine-year ban and a fine of 100,000 Swiss francs (£67,000) on Mr Valcke for alleged violation of the general rules of conduct, loyalty, confidentiality, duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting, conflicts of interest, offering and accepting gifts and other benefits and general obligation to collaborate.
“Until a formal decision is taken by the adjudicatory chamber of the Ethics Committee, Mr Valcke is presumed innocent.”
FIFA’s Ethics Committee announced in October that Valcke had been provisionally banned for 90 days, after he was accused of “misuse of expenses and other infringements of Fifa’s rules and regulations”.
Valcke, who has denied any wrongdoing, was regarded as Sepp Blatter’s right-hand man and was responsible for overseeing Fifa’s commercial contracts and its showpiece tournaments.
The latest developments come on the back of the eight-year bans issued to Blatter and Platini.
The pair were found guilty of a conflict of interest and dereliction of duty over a 2m Swiss francs (£1.35m) “disloyal payment” from Blatter to Platini in 2011.
Both men intend to appeal their bans and will take their cases to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
