FIFA's planned presidential election on Wednesday has been thrown
into turmoil after challenger Mohamed bin Hammam and now the 13-year incumbent,
Blatter, were both summoned to face an ethics panel over campaign bribery
allegations on Sunday.
“It is a very interesting moment,” Platini, who is also a
vice president of FIFA, said in London after being informed of FIFA's decision
to investigate its own head.
“We have some strange days these now, these next days
because of that and we have elections. I will go back to Zurich after the final
of the Champions League.” Platini will be arriving in Switzerland on Sunday as
Bin Hammam and FIFA vice president Jack Warner face the ethics panel on charges
of bribing voters during a Caribbean campaign visit. Blatter is accused of
turning a blind eye to alleged bribes by Bin Hammam, the Qatari head of Asian
football. All three deny the charges, which came after allegations were leveled
by American FIFA executive committee member Chuck Blazer against Bin Hammam and
Warner.
Platini, who moved into football politics after an illustrious
career playing for France and Juventus, maintained that he has never been
bribed.
“Don't joke, never, never,” Platini said. “You know the
people who are corrupt, they know who can be corruptible.
They know I am incorruptible.” Asked if FIFA is corrupt, Platini
responded: “I don't know, let's (see) the evidence.” “Football is the most
beautiful and popular game in the world and we have to resolve these problems,”
Platini said.
“I know many journalists corrupted too,” he told reporters
at the unveiling of a UEFA-funded pitch at a London school. “It is not only a
fight in football.
Football is a mirror for the society and what happens in
football can arrive in every part of the society.” Platini is widely expected
to run for the FIFA presidency in four years time. This time, Platini's
executive committee at UEFA has thrown its support behind Blatter, who has said
he will serve a fourth and final term.
But this mounting corruption crisis could lead to the
presidential election being delayed at FIFA's Congress next week.
“I don't know, but you know, to not have elections you need
three quarters of the assembly who will say, 'No elections,”' Platini said. “But
I think we will have elections. ... It's an important moment now because we
have two cases in the disciplinary (hearings) and I will go to Zurich and know
better in two days.” Up to 25 delegates who have votes in the election were
allegedly offered cash bribes at the May 10-11 conference in Warner's native
Trinidad, where he is a government minister.
Bin Hammam, who denies bribery, claims Blatter broke ethics
rules by not reporting apparent corruption attempts.
FIFA's ethics rules require officials to “report any
evidence of violations of conduct.”
