FIFA Ethics Committee Hearing of Michel Platini Between December 16-18: Sources
Michel Platini was handed a provisional 90-day suspension on October 8 over a suspect USD 2 million payment he received from FIFA's now suspended president Sepp Blatter in 2011.
The FIFA ethics committee will question European football chief Michel Platini "most likely between December 16 and 18", a source close to football's world governing body said on Friday. (South American Football Bosses Charged in Latest FIFA Graft Probe)
Platini's lawyer said at the end of November that the ethics body's investigatory chamber wants the UEFA chief banned for life over a suspect USD 2 million payment he received from FIFA's now suspended president Sepp Blatter in 2011. (FIFA Unanimously Approves 12-Year Term Limit for President)
Platini and Blatter "have asked to be heard, and this will be granted," a source close to FIFA told AFP. (FIFA Rejects Sepp Blatter, Michel Platini Appeals Against Suspension)
"Michel Platini will be heard most likely between December 16 and 18."
The 60-year-old Frenchman, until recently the favourite to take over football's world governing body, is set to appear before the FIFA ethics committee's adjudicatory chamber.
No further information has been released from Blatter's legal team concerning his own hearings.
Like Platini, Blatter was handed a provisional 90-day suspension on October 8 while an investigation is held into the suspect payment.
Platini has now been ruled out of the race for the FIFA presidency to be decided in the election on February 26.
The investigation, alongside a US bribery inquiry and a Swiss probe into the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, has plunged FIFA into its worst-ever crisis.
Blatter is also under investigation by Swiss authorities for 'criminal mismanagement' over the payment to Platini, ostensibly for consultancy work completed nine years earlier.
Swiss authorities are treating Platini as a witness in the case, rather than a suspect.
Both men have denied any wrongdoing but admit there was no contract for the work or payment.
Platini has appealed against his suspension at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), with a source close to the case saying that decision will be taken "in the coming days".
Blatter's lawyers have not indicated whether or not the suspended FIFA chief has appealed against his own suspension before the CAS.