Tuesday, November 02, 2021
It’s about a million dollar amount
Blatter and Platini charged with fraud
They were sentenced to a sentence by the FIFA Ethics Committee a long time ago, and now Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini are also threatened with criminal conviction by a civil court. The Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office has brought charges. It’s about a payment of almost two million euros.
Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter and former UEFA boss Michel Platini face charges of fraudulent payments of one million. The Swiss federal prosecutor’s office accuses the two ex-top officials of having illegally obtained a payment of two million Swiss francs from the football world association to the Frenchman Platini.
“The evidence gathered by the BA has confirmed the suspicion that this payment to Platini was made without a legal basis. This payment damaged FIFA’s assets and unlawfully enriched Platini,” said a statement from the authority. The 85-year-old Blatter reacted calmly. “I look forward to the trial before the Federal Criminal Court with optimism,” he said through his spokesman, Thomas Renggli. “I hope that this story will come to an end and that all the facts will be properly dealt with.”
The defendants deny any allegations
Like Platini, Blatter has always denied all allegations. The core of the procedure is the payment of two million francs (1.86 million euros) from FIFA, which was then managed by Blatter, to Platini in 2011. Platini received the money for advisory work for FIFA between 1998 and 2002, Blatter said. When the payment was made, the corresponding social security contributions were settled, and Platini taxed the amount in Switzerland.
During its investigation, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office found that Platini had agreed to an annual compensation of 300,000 Swiss francs between 1998 and 2002 while he was working as Blatter’s advisor and had received it from FIFA. Eight years after the end of this activity, Platini also demanded the two million francs. With the help of Blatter, he finally got it from FIFA.
The prosecutors also accuse Blatter of embezzlement, unfaithful business management and forgery of documents. The 65-year-old Platini has to answer for the help. The FIFA Ethics Committee banned Blatter and Platini six years ago, and the sanction, which was later reduced in length, meant the end of their careers for both of them. However, Blatter had previously announced his retirement from the top of FIFA.