By Toby Prince
UEFA President, Michel Platini, is under a formal investigation by FIFA independent ethics committee and could be suspended in the coming days, according to media reports.
Should the Frenchman be provisionally suspended, he would be automatically ruled out for the FIFA Presidential elections.
FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, is also facing criminal charges for financial corruption and was also questioned by the Swiss police.
Platini is said to be cooperating with Swiss investigators by answering questions on a two million Swiss francs transaction from Blatter.
The French legend claims that he was owed the money from a contract with FIFA between 1999 and 2002 but has failed to come up with a proper explanation when asked why it took nine years for the invoice to be paid.
FIFA investigators led by Cornel Borbély have thus opened files on both Blatter and Platini and are expected to work closely with the Swiss attorney general.
They are also expected to investigate Blatter and Platini before they come to a conclusion whether to issue a provisional suspension.
Platini and Blatter had earlier fallen out in 2011 when the former went back on his promise on an agreement to step down.
Should Platini get away without suspension, he will still face the prospect of an integrity check by ethics committee before he is allowed to submit his candidature for FIFA presidency in the last week of October.
Blatter, meanwhile, has promised to step aside anyway in February and should he get suspended, the 79-year-old Swiss will immediately step down.
