A Swiss Court finds former FIFA President and Vice President are found not guilty of corruption charges levelled against them more than 7 years ago
Based on an approval from the former President of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, FIFA made a payment of CHF 2 million to the then Vice President, Michel Platini. The payment was made in 2011 as consultancy charges for services rendered by Michel Platini to FIFA a few years before.
In his testimony during the trial, Blatter said he asked Platini to be his adviser when he was first appointed President of football’s world governing body in 1998. He said the former Captain of the French Football team. Michel Platini wanted CHF 1m (£816,030) per year but Blatter told him FIFA could not afford that fee. They instead settled on CHF 300,000 (£244,809) per year, with the outstanding total to be paid at a later date. The two sports men shook hands on their “gentleman’s agreement”.
Platini stopped working for FIFA in 2002 but did not pursue the payment until 2010, telling the court he had not needed the money at the time, when – according to Blatter – FIFA was in any case “broke”. However, Platini later heard that two former employees had received substantial payments. He approached FIFA and asked to send an invoice. He did so in January 2011, with the money paid 10 days later after approval by Blatter.
The Swiss Office of the Attorney General accused Blatter and Platini of “fraud, in the alternative of misappropriation, in the further alternative of criminal mismanagement as well as of forgery of a document”. The invoice sent by Platini was considered to be a forged document for a fictitious debt.
Motives for the payment were unclear, although the two sportsmen met in 2010 and discussed the upcoming elections for the FIFA presidency in 2011. When Blatter approved the payment, he was campaigning for re-election against Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar. Platini, then president of UEFA, was seen as having sway with European members who could influence the vote. The payment emerged following a huge investigation launched by the US Department of Justice into bribery, fraud and money-laundering at FIFA in 2015, which triggered Blatter’s resignation.
Both officials were banned from football for eight years in 2015 over the payment, although their bans were later reduced. Platini, who was also charged as an accomplice, said he felt the ban was a deliberate attempt to stop him from becoming FIFA president in 2015
The case started in 2015, and thorough investigations were carried out which included raids led by the Federal Bureau of Investigations at FIFA’s Zurich hotel. The 11-day trial of the two football personalities over the 2011 payment took place at the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona and was recently concluded.
The Court released a statement after the trial which said that the result of the evidence supports the version of the accused. The facts of the indictment cannot therefore be considered to have been created with a probability bordering on certainty.
Although the two football personalities have been acquitted of wrong- doing their illustrious careers have been marred over this controversy and the actions taken against them.
Michel François Platini (born 21 June 1955) is a former French football player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'Or for three consecutive years in 1983, 1984 and 1985. In recognition of his achievements, he was named a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 1985 and became an Officier in 1998.
Nicknamed Le Roi (The King) for his ability and leadership, he was a prolific goal scorer; he won the Serie A capocannoniere award three consecutive times between 1983 and 1985, and was the top scorer of Juventus's victorious 1984–85 European Cup campaign. Platini was a key player of the France national team that won the 1984 European Championship, a tournament in which he was the top scorer and best player, and reached the semi-finals of the 1982 and 1986 World Cups.
Following his retirement as a player, Platini was the France national team coach for four years, and was the co-organizer of the 1998 World Cup in France. In 2007, he became the first former player to be elected as the president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). He also held the positions of chairman of FIFA's Technical and Development Committee and vice-president of the French Football Federation.
Joseph "Sepp" Blatter (born 10 March 1936) is a former Swiss football administrator who served as the eighth President of FIFA from 1998 to 2015. From a background in business, public relations, and sports administration, Blatter became general secretary of FIFA in 1981 and was then elected president at the 51st FIFA Congress on 8 June 1998. Blatter was re-elected in 2002, 2007, 2011, and 2015. Like his predecessor, Blatter sought to increase the influence of African and Asian countries in world football through the expansion of participating teams in various FIFA tournaments.