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Chung Mong-joon says he plans to sue Fifa

The fallout swirled along Fifa's corridors of power on Friday following the ethics committee's decision to suspend four of world football's most influential administrators. Chung Mong-joon, the billionaire South Korean, has cried foul after a six-year ban.

Chung Mong-joon says he will fight his six-year ban in the courts.
Chung Mong-joon says he will fight his six-year ban in the courts. Reuters/Pascal Rossignol
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The crisis at the heart of Fifa continued when former vice-president Chung said he planned to take legal action against the organisation's ethics committee for defamation.

On Thursday, the committee suspended the 63-year-old for six years after ruling that he contravened guidelines while lobbying for South Korea's bid for the 2022 World Cup.

"It is a shameful attempt to punish me for my open criticisms of Fifa," Chung said.

He said the ethics committee's investigation was a political ploy aimed at sabotaging his candidacy.

Chung says he wants to succeed 79-year-old Blatter as president when the election for a new chief takes place in February.

Michel Platini, one of the other men bidding to take over from Blatter, was suspended for 90 days along with secretary-general Jerome Valcke.

"This is a most blatant miscarriage of justice," Chung said of his ban. He accused the Fifa watchdog of making vague accusations under its code of ethics.

He added that he would use all legal means available including a formal request to the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.

"The ethics committee will also be the subject of my legal actions for damaging my reputation," he said.

The six-year ban, accompanied by a fine of 91,000 euros, automatically rules Chung out of the race to replace Blatter who was stripped of all his duties on Thursday.

The move followed an ethics committee inquiry which was launched after Swiss prosecutors opened an investigation into Blatter over his involvement in the below-market price sale of TV rights for the 2010 and 2014 World Cup to the Carribean Football Union.

Swiss authorities also want to know why 60-year-old Platini was paid 1.8 million euros in 2011, nine years after he carried out work as a special adviser for Blatter. Both men deny any wrongdoing. 

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