Switzerland

Swiss prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into Joseph Blatter, the head of world soccer body fifa, on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and misappropriation, the Swiss attorney general's office (OAG) said on Friday

World football body fifa put Jerome Valcke, its second-ranking official, on leave on Thursday just hours after an ex-footballer raised allegations he was involved in a plan to resell 2014 World CUP tickets for a lucrative profit.

Former fifa executive committee member Chuck Blazer, a key figure in a U.S. investigation into Corruption by soccer officials, on Thursday was banned for life from football activities by the sport's governing body.

Sepp Blatter has told a Swiss newspaper he has not quit as fifa president, adding to speculation he may try to stay on as head of world soccer's governing body that is gripped by a Corruption scandal.

A global group of government anti-money-laundering agencies said that financial institutions have not done enough to police suspicious financial activity by officials at football’s global governing body fifa, and cautioned banks to step up scrutiny.The warning from the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force came in the wake of last month’s indictment by the U.S. of nine current and former fifa officials and five business executives on a series of Corruption charges, including Bribery, Money Laundering and wire fraud.With the U.S.

Fifa's embattled president, Sepp Blatter, and his second-in-command have hired high-powered lawyers to represent them as Swiss authorities identified suspicious bank transactions in a Corruption probe engulfing football's global governing body.

Switzerland's attorney general said on Wednesday his office had seized around nine terabytes of data as part of a sweeping investigation into allegations of Bribery and Corruption at world football's governing body fifa.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore has ordered a Swiss merchant bank to close and fined two other banks for breaching anti-Money Laundering controls.

Sepp Blatter may seek to stay on as the president of fifa, a Swiss newspaper quoted an anonymous source close to Blatter as saying on Sunday. The report comes less than two weeks after Blatter resigned as head of the world football organisation.

Interpol suspended a 20-million-euro sports "integrity" agreement with fifa on Friday, at the end of testing week for soccer's scandal-hit ruling body that saw its chief spokesman quit, bidding for the 2026 World CUP shelved, and records seized from its Zurich headquarters.