Former football leaders Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini appeared at a Swiss court on Monday for a new fraud trial, nearly three years after they were acquitted of related charges.
Both men face allegations of forgery and misappropriation concerning a Blatter-approved FIFA payment of 2 million Swiss francs (approximately €2.12 million) made to Platini in 2011.
This trial follows a lengthy investigation that began nine and a half years ago and comes two and a half years after the pair were cleared by three Swiss judges.
Blatter, the former FIFA president, and Platini, the ex-UEFA president and FIFA vice president, consistently deny any wrongdoing, asserting a verbal agreement for the payment for Platini’s advisory work during Blatter’s initial presidential term from 1998 to 2002.
The hearing, which is expected to last until Thursday, is being held at the Extraordinary Appeals Chamber of the Swiss Criminal Court, with a verdict anticipated on 25 March. The trial is conducted in German by three judges from different cantons.
Blatter and Platini resigned from their roles following the emergence of payment details during FIFA’s corruption crisis in 2015, which also derailed Platini’s campaign to succeed Blatter as FIFA president. In November 2021, federal prosecutors stated that the payment had “damaged FIFA’s assets and unlawfully enriched Platini.”
Despite their acquittal in July 2022 after a seven-year inquiry, the Swiss federal prosecutor appealed the decision months later. The current trial faced delays after Platini successfully contested the involvement of certain federal appeal judges last year.
Prosecutors are seeking sentences of 20 months, suspended for two years. FIFA did not have representation in court on Monday, prompting Platini’s lawyer, Dominic Nellen, to request the dismissal of FIFA’s appeal and civil claim to recover the payment, as well as an additional 229,000 Swiss francs (approximately €243,000) in social charges and interest. Platini has maintained that he declared the payment as income and paid taxes on it.
( Source : euronews )
