FIFA has announced that Secretary General Jerome Valcke was suspended, effective Thursday, while the organization investigates allegations he participated in a scheme to profit off the sale of World Cup tickets on the black
market.

Valcke was relieved of his duties until
further notice, the international governing
body of soccer said.

The organization’s brief statement to the
media said FIFA’s ethics committee will
investigate the series of allegations involving
Valcke , the No. 2 man in FIFA after
President Sepp Blatter.

Newspaper allegations on Thursday
implicated Valcke, 54, in a scheme
to sell World Cup tickets for above
the face value.

The Frenchman, who is said to
deny the allegations, has been in
his role at Fifa since 2007.

Fifa has been engulfed by claims
of widespread corruption since
May, when Swiss police raided a
hotel in Zurich and arrested seven
of its top executives.

President Sepp Blatter announced
that he would stand down just days
after winning re-election in June.

Valcke, who last month was
considering standing to be the new
president, now faces a formal
investigation by the Fifa ethics
committee.

Valcke has faced scrutiny in recent
months over his role in an alleged
$10 million (£6.5 million) bribe.

United States prosecutors say the
money was paid by South Africa to
former Fifa Vice-President, Jack
Warner, in return for his vote and
backing during their successful bid
to host the 2010 World Cup.

The money is said to have been
transferred to Warner from a Fifa
bank account after being re-
appropriated from South Africa’s
World Cup local organising
committee budget.

The New York Times and other US
media outlets, citing US law
enforcement sources, have claimed
Valcke was the “high-ranking Fifa
official” who signed off the
payment – an allegation he denied.