Blatter And Platini Cleared In FIFA Graft Case

In a long-running corruption case that shattered their careers as the most powerful figures in world football, former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and former UEFA chief Michel Platini were cleared on appeal on Tuesday.

The Extraordinary Court of Appeal clerk in the town of Muttenz, near Basel, read out a decision identical to the one that had initially cleared them, according to Blatter, 89, and Platini, 69, silently.

The pair’s 20-month sentences were requested by the prosecution, but the pair’s charges of fraud, which included those that would expose them to five years in prison, as well as those involving dishonest management, breach of trust, and falsifying documents, were dismissed.

A final appeal is still possible before the Swiss Supreme Court after almost ten years of legal action, but only on a set of restrictions. In a statement, the prosecutor’s office said it “will decide about how to proceed further.”

Platini told reporters that FIFA and some Swiss federal prosecutors have been persecuting them for ten years. “I’m very happy and honored that my honor has been restored today.”

Former France captain and manager Platini asserted that his initial impression of the situation was to prevent him from becoming president of FIFA.

Platini, whose downfall opened the door for Gianni Infantino’s election as FIFA boss, continued, “I know that for my enemies, it was time that was important… They kept me out for ten years.”

Blatter and Platini were detained earlier this month on suspicion of a delayed payment of two million Swiss francs (1. 8 million euros) that FIFA paid Platini for consulting services.

The federal prosecutor’s office must also acknowledge that this criminal procedure has utterly failed following two acquittals. Michel Platini must be let go of criminal prosecution, according to Dominic Nellen, Platini’s attorney.

Gentlemen’s consent is required.

Blatter resigned as FIFA’s head in 2015 amid a corruption scandal.

The Swiss Federal Criminal Court initially found Blatter and Platini innocent in June 2022, but the attorney general’s office appealed the decision right away.

The defense and prosecution both agreed that Platini did consult Blatter between 1998 and 2002, during the Swiss administrator’s first year in charge of FIFA, and that the pair agreed to a contract in 1999 for a “yearly remuneration of 300, 000 Swiss francs to be “paid in full by FIFA.”

Blatter and Platini stated that at the beginning, they had an annual salary of one million Swiss francs, but FIFA’s financial situation prevented payment right away. It was referred to as a “gentlemen’s agreement” by Patterson.

The defense was deemed implausible, according to prosecutor Thomas Hildbrand. FIFA still had “more than 21 million francs in cash” and its reserves had reached 328 million in 2002, even if it had given Platini one million in 1999.

He claimed that agreeing such a sum without a written record, without witnesses, and without ever including it in the accounts was “contrary to business practice” and to FIFA’s standards.

Platini “claimed a debt of two million Swiss francs” in January 2011, which FIFA paid, “more than eight years after the end of his work as an advisor.”

The two executives’ false statements, according to the prosecution, led to the claim that this was an “unfounded” payment that was “cleverly misleading” FIFA’s internal controls.

Platini had taken over the reins of European football at the time, and Blatter was re-elected as FIFA president. In his successful bid for a fourth term in charge of FIFA, Pinini backed Blatter.

Source: Channels TV