Fifa investigator said to call for Sepp Blatter to be suspended

Rio de Janeiro: Fifa president Joseph “Sepp” Blatter is facing suspension after the soccer organization’s chief investigator asked for him to be placed on leave for 90 days, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Cornel Borbely, the investigator at Fifa’s ethics committee, made the request to its adjudicatory chamber, said the person, who declined to be identified because he is not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

The move was made after Switzerland’s attorney general opened a criminal investigation that will review allegations that the 79-year-old Blatter was involved in approving an illicit payment to a European soccer leader and that he’d sold World Cup television rights at well below their market value. Blatter denies the claims.

Richard Cullen, Blatter’s US-based lawyer, didn’t immediately, respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Delia Fischer, a spokeswoman for Fifa, referred calls to the ethics committee. Andreas Bantel, a spokesman for the ethics committee, couldn’t immediately be reached on his land line or mobile phone.

The BBC and Sky News reported that Blatter has been provisionally suspended. Bloomberg