IOC not including Blatter in ethics probe, says source

Dec 7, 2011, 19:09 GMT

Lausanne, Switzerland - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has no plans to investigate FIFA president Joseph Blatter following the resignation of his predecessor Joao Havelange, dpa learned Wednesday from IOC sources.

The IOC ethics commission sees no cause for any investigation against the 75-year-old Swiss head of football's governing body, sources said.

Havelange had been due to hear Thursday the outcome of an IOC ethics committee investigation into allegations that as head of FIFA he received kickbacks from the collapsed sports marketing agency ISL.

However his decision to resign from the IOC this week means his case will be dropped, reports have said.

The 95-year-old Brazilian, who was FIFA president from 1974 to 1998 before being replaced by Blatter, cited health reasons for his resignation. Blatter was secretary general at FIFA under Havelange from 1981 to 1998.

Blatter said Tuesday the release of documents which could compromise FIFA officials had been delayed because of legal action by a party involved. However, he said he remained determined to present the documents.

The files from a Swiss trial in connection with the bankruptcy of ISL reportedly reveal that FIFA officials took bribes from the sports marketing agency.

Havelange, his former son-in-law and Brazilian football supremo Ricardo Teixeira, African football confederation head Issa Hayatou and world governing athletics body head Lamine Diack were mentioned in connection with the ISL files by a BBC programme.

All those alleged to have received kickbacks have previously denied any wrongdoing.

Diack and Hayatou are also under investigation over the issue by the IOC ethics committee as IOC members.

Read more about FIFA

Read more about Olympics IOC