FIFA tribunal to decide Blatter's fate

The ethics watchdog of scandal-tainted FIFA was locked in talks to decide the fate of world football president Sepp Blatter as attacks on the veteran sports baron mounted.
The ethics committee tribunal was also to decide whether to take action against UEFA leader Michael Platini and former FIFA vice president Chung Mong-Joon, both candidates to take over from Blatter.
As the drama intensified on Wednesday, British media reported that the ethics committee had recommended a provisional suspension of 90 days for Blatter.
But Blatter's lawyers said that their client had not been informed of any such action.
"President Blatter has not been notified of any action taken by the FIFA Ethics Committee," a joint statement issued by his lawyers said, adding that Blatter had also not been asked to speak before the disciplinary panel.

"We would expect that the Ethics Committee would want to hear from the President and his counsel, and conduct a thorough review of the evidence, before making any recommendation to take disciplinary action," the statement from Swiss lawyer Lorenz Erni and New York-based attorney Richard Cullen added.

Meanwhile, Chung hit out at Blatter, calling him "a hypocrite and a liar" and threatening a legal case for embezzlement of FIFA funds.
The 79-year-old Blatter, who has ruled FIFA for 17 years, insisted in a German magazine interview that he would not be forced out of office before an election to be held in February.

FIFA has kept the activities of its independent ethics committee cloaked in secrecy in recent months as accusations of corruption have mounted.
But a Senegalese member of the committee's adjudicatory chamber, FIFA's highest court, said it started a five-day meeting on Monday, with Blatter and the other two officials on the agenda.
Abdoulaeye Makhtar Diop, a former Senegal sports minister, said in a statement: "the members will focus on the topics of the Swiss Sepp Blatter, FIFA president, the Frenchman Michel Platini, president of UEFA, and the South Korean Chung Mong-Joon."
FIFA officials refused to comment on the disclosure.
- 'Hypocrite' accusation -

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But the world body, fighting off multiple corruption accusations, has been forced to consider suspending its president since Swiss authorities opened an investigation for "criminal mismanagement" against Blatter.