Blatter denies link to corruption

Sepp Blatter is emphatic that he had no involvement with the fraud and embezzlement charges that Swiss prosecutors have brought against FIFA's former marketing partners.

The prosecutors claim that a number of individuals are being charged with the collapse of ISL/ISMM and of paying bribes to senior football officials.

On Friday, at a news conference in Zurich, Blatter responded with outrage when asked if he had ever received payments from ISL.

"This is quite daring how you ask this question right here," said Blatter. "This is a veiled accusation and I will not accept this.

"I have never ever in my life taken money except from the people I have worked for. This I want to lay down for once and for all. This I want to make perfectly clear.

"This court case is not against FIFA. On the contrary, FIFA initiated this trial and the prosecutor is saying quite clearly in his declarations that no officers and no staff from FIFA, either former or current, are being accused."

Swiss prosecutor Marc von Dach confirmed the charges have only been brought against former employees of ISL, which collapsed in 2001, but he would not say how many people have been charged.

Von Dach said the "criminal mishandling" amounted to around GBP 45 million.

ISL owned the TV rights to the 2002 and 2006 World Cups and its collapse caused a major financial headache for FIFA.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.