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 Valcke was found guilty by FIFA ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert of
misconduct over the sale of World Cup tickets, abuse of travel
expenses, attempting to sell TV rights below their market value and
destruction of evidence.
"Valcke acted against FIFA’s best interests and caused considerable
financial damage to FIFA, while his private and personal interests
detracted him from his ability to properly perform his duties as the
Secretary General of FIFA," FIFA's ethics committee said in a
statement.
The Frenchman, whose job was to ensure the smooth running of FIFA
and in particular its flagship World Cup tournament, had been
right-hand man to now banned president Sepp Blatter for nearly eight
years.
FIFA is mired in the worst crisis in its 111-year history, with
corruption investigations under way in Switzerland and the United
States. Several dozen people including senior football officials
have been indicted.
The ethics committee has already banned Blatter and European soccer
boss Michel Platini for eight years apiece. More than a dozen other
officials have been suspended over the last four years.
Valcke's U.S. lawyer Barry Berke said in a statement that the ethics
committee "is not a credible, independent or objective
decision-making body."
He described its Friday decision as "unsupported, unjust and
politically motivated" and said Valcke's evidence had been ignored.
"Mr. Valcke is confident that when all the facts come out, it will
be clear that he did absolutely nothing wrong in carrying out his
duties for the good of FIFA and the sport."
Valcke was initially investigated over potential misconduct linked
to the sale of tickets for FIFA World Cups. Other cases were
uncovered by Cornel Borbely, FIFA's chief ethics investigator,
during the course of the inquiry, the ethics committee statement
said.
It was found that Valcke had traveled at FIFA's expense for "purely
sightseeing reasons" and had repeatedly chosen private flights over
commercial ones "without any business rationale for doing so."
"Mr Valcke gained an advantage for himself and relatives," said the
statement.
The investigation also found that Valcke attempted to grant the 2018
and 2022 World Cup television and marketing rights for the Caribbean
region to a third party for a fee which was "far below their actual
market value", said the statement.
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In another incident, Valcke "deliberately tried to obstruct the
ongoing proceedings against him by attempting to delete or deleting
several files and folders relevant to the investigation," the
statement said.
In all he was found to have violated seven articles of the FIFA code
of ethics including its general rules of conduct, loyalty,
confidentiality, duty of disclosure, conflicts of interest, offering
and accepting gifts and obligation to collaborate.
Valcke joined FIFA in 2003 as marketing director but was fired in
December 2006 for his part in botched sponsorship negotiations with
credit card firms MasterCard Inc and Visa Inc.
Yet within months of that settlement, Valcke was not only back at
FIFA but was at the helm of the administration as general secretary,
answering directly to Blatter.
Valcke was widely credited for getting the 2010 and 2014 World Cup
tournaments, held in South Africa and Brazil respectively, up and
running in time after delays in the preparations.
During the run-up to the 2014 tournament, he caused a row by saying
that Brazil needed a "kick up the backside" to get the tournament
ready on time.
Valcke was put on leave by FIFA in September and dismissed in
January by FIFA's emergency committee. He had already implied that
he would stand down following the Feb. 26 election for Blatter's
replacement.
(Reporting by Brian Homewood; Additional reporting by Nate Raymond
in New York; Editing by Ralph Boulton)
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