Lausanne (AFP)

German Markus Kattner, former chief financial officer and ex-deputy secretary general of FIFA during the Blatter years, was suspended on Tuesday for 10 years from all football-related activities, by the ethics committee of the governing body of football worldwide.

Markus Kattner, who has also been fined one million Swiss francs (940,000 euros), is accused of abuse of position and conflicts of interest in an investigation opened in September 2016 also targeting former Fifa N.1 and N.2, Sepp Blatter and Jérôme Valcke.

Mr. Kattner is accused of having received substantial bonuses, however apparently provided in additives to his contract but whose terms were kept secret within Fifa and that only a few people in the proceedings would have known and allowed.

The three men - Kattner, Blatter and Valcke - are notably accused of having shared between 2011 and 2015 premiums of up to $ 80 million.

Sepp Blatter and Jérôme Valcke are already suspended from all functions within Fifa.

Blatter, now 84, chaired Fifa from 1998 to 2015.

In 2016, he notably declared that he had "never met a more honest man" than Markus Kattner.

Markus Kattner, 49, who joined Fifa in 2003, was sacked in May 2016 after an internal investigation uncovered breaches of his fiduciary responsibilities in connection with his duties (then acting assistant secretary general).

He had challenged his dismissal before the Swiss courts.

© 2020 AFP