KEIR RADNEDGE in ZURICH: Michel Platini could find himself in line for disciplinary action from FIFA, of which he is a vice-president, over the case of the Brazilian watch storm.
On Thursday the world federation’s ethics chiefs, Michael Garcia and Domenico Scala, denounced both the Brazilian confederation for handing out, and senior football officials for accepting, 60 valuable watches at the start of the World Cup.
Ethics investigator Garcia and audit and compliance chief Scala declared that the watches were worth far more than had been claimed by the CBF and it had been inappropriate for officials to keep them.
Three FIFA executive members – reportedly American Sunil Gulati, Australian Moya Dodd and Prince Ali of Jordan – had handed the watches back and alerted the ethics committee.
Garcia and Scala insisted all the watches be handed in to FIFA before October 24 or face disciplinary action. An independent valuation had assessed the watches as being worth £16,400 not the £5,400 claimed originally by the CBF.
However Platini, president of European federation UEFA, said in Nyon that he preferred to donate to charity a sum equivalent to value the value of the watch, though he would have it back if forced to do so.
Platini also criticised the ethics committee for not having acted as soon as Garcia and/or Scala had learned of the gifts of the watches.
He said: “I am surprised both at the amount of the value of the watch and then that, if the ethics committee were not happy, it should tell us almost four months after we received these watches.
“It seems it was only after an article in the British press that we are told. I do not like the wording of the FIFA statement.”
He added: “I will ask the exact value of the watch, and I will give a sum to that value to charity.”
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