Blatter says $100 mn bribery case is ‘over’

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TOKYO, Dec 11, (AFP): Suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter insisted that a $100 million bribery case in which he is reportedly implicated “is over”, and pleaded ignorance over alleged corruption by top officials at the scandal-hit world body.

Blatter, speaking to Japan’s Nikkei business daily, also protested that he should have been warned before Swiss police arrested seven FIFA officials in May, and said he hoped to return to his job in the coming weeks.

“It was a tsunami,” he said of the May arrests on behalf of US authorities, which plunged the world body into crisis, in the interview published on Friday.

“Swiss authorities should have at least informed me that such a thing would happen,” Blatter said, adding that he was “shocked when I saw, and (what is) still going on, what has happened in the different confederations”.

“I cannot be morally responsible for the bad activities of members of my executive committee when I have no chance to introduce them or to dismiss them,” Blatter said.

The arrests in Zurich kick-started events which forced Blatter to announce his resignation. He is now suspended from FIFA as Swiss authorities investigate the alleged misappropriation of funds and a $2 million payment to UEFA chief Michel Platini.

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