Soccer: Blatter and two others facing Fifa investigation over salaries

[ZURICH] Former Fifa president Sepp Blatter and ex-secretary general Jerome Valcke, already banned from football for ethics violations, are facing a fresh investigation, this time over the salaries and bonuses they received in office.

Fifa's ethics committee said that its investigators had opened formal proceedings against both men, along with former finance director Markus Kattner, for possible ethics violations which included "bribery and corruption."

It said the suspected violations were "in the context of salaries and bonuses paid to Mr Blatter, Mr Valcke and Mr Kattner as well as other provisions included in the contracts of these three individuals."

They were also suspected of having breached rules concerning general conduct, loyalty, conflicts of interest and "offering and accepting gifts and other benefits."

Mr Blatter, Mr Valcke and Mr Kattner could not immediately be reached for comment, although the three have in the past denied wrongdoing.

Fifa said in June that an internal investigation revealed that the three officials had received 79 million Swiss francs in compensation over five years, calling them "massive payouts".

Mr Blatter, who led Fifa from 1998 until 2015, has already been banned for six years, following an appeal.

The ban was imposed for ethics violations related to a payment of two million Swiss francs that Fifa made to then European soccer boss Michel Platini with Mr Blatter's approval in 2011 for work done a decade earlier.

Mr Valcke was fired in January and has since been banned for 10 years for ethics violations which included using Fifa expenses for sightseeing trips and destruction of evidence.

REUTERS