UEFA president Michel Platini will not attend his hearing in front of the FIFA ethics committee on Friday, his spokesman has confirmed.
The Frenchman is currently serving a 90-day suspension from all footballing activity pending the committee's investigation into a payment to Platini from FIFA president Sepp Blatter in 2011 just weeks before Blatter's re-election for a fourth term.
Legal representatives for Platini confirmed that he had refused to appear on Friday after "the verdict was already announced to the press by a spokesman... going against the presumption of innocence".
A spokesman for the committee had been quoted last week as telling L'Equipe that Platini would be "suspended for several years".
Blatter, who is expected to attend his own hearing tomorrow, said yesterday that he was "bewildered" by the investigation.
