TheCable

The Swiss attorney general has announced criminal proceedings have been opened against FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

The office issued a statement saying Blatter is suspected of criminal mismanagement or misappropriation over a TV rights deal he signed with former Caribbean football chief Jack Warner in 2005.

“Swiss criminal proceedings against the President of FIFA, Mr. Joseph Blatter, have been opened on 24 September 2015 on suspicion of criminal mismanagement…and – alternatively – misappropriation,” a statement from the Swiss attorney general reads.

“There is as suspicion that…Joseph Blatter also violated his fiduciary duties’ to FIFA in connection with a contract with the Caribbean Football Union.”

Blatter is also suspected of “a disloyal payment” of two million Swiss francs (£1.3 million) to UEFA president Michel Platini in 2011.

The outgoing FIFA president’s offices were searched on Friday as part of the investigation and data was seized.

The Swiss federal office says Blatter was interrogated after chairing a meeting of FIFA’s executive committee.

The move comes just hours after a press conference in Zurich at which Blatter was set to speak but was cancelled at the last minute by football governing body.