Blatter’s lawyer Lorenz Erni reacting to a FIFA criminal
complaint said: “The accusations are baseless and are vehemently repudiated.”
FIFA announced it had filed the criminal complaint against
Blatter over the finances of its loss-making museum in Zurich.
In a statement, FIFA said it had “lodged a criminal
complaint with Zurich’s cantonal prosecutor as evidence of suspected criminal
mismanagement by FIFA’s former management and companies appointed by them in
relation to the (museum) has surfaced.”
According to FIFA, the museum generated a bill of 500
million Swiss francs (462 million euros) that instead “could and should have
been channeled into the development of global football”.
“We came to the conclusion that we had no choice other than
to report the case to state prosecutors, not least because the current
management of FIFA also has fiduciary responsibilities to the organisation and
we intend to live up to them, even if those before us dismally failed to,” said
FIFA deputy secretary general Alasdair Bell.
The Zurich-based museum, a landmark Blatter project, was
opened in February 2016 by current FIFA president Gianni Infantino just after
he was elected as the successor to the disgraced Blatter.
Blatter was suspended from football for six years over a two
million Swiss franc payment to then UEFA boss Michel Platini.
FIFA invested 140 million Swiss frans (130.5 million euros,
$138.6 million) in the museum, which is spread over three floors and 3000 m2.
However, it lost $50 million in its first year of operating
and attracted an average of 11,000 visitors a month, barely half the target.