Michel Platini and the former president of Fifa, the Swiss Sepp Blatter, were acquitted on Friday in Switzerland in the fraud case which in 2015 shattered the Frenchman’s ambitions to reach the top of world football.
The Federal Criminal Court of Bellinzona did not follow the requisitions of the prosecution, which had requested in mid-June respectively one year and eight months of suspended prison sentence, while the two accused claimed their innocence. For two weeks, the 67-year-old Frenchman Michel Platini and the 86-year-old Swiss Sepp Blatter had appeared for having “illegally obtained, at the expense of Fifa, a payment of 2 million Swiss francs” (1.8 million euros ) “in favor of Michel Platini”.
An oral “gentlemen’s agreement” without witnesses
Defense and prosecution agreed on one point: the triple Ballon d’Or advised Sepp Blatter well between 1998 and 2002, during the latter’s first term at the head of Fifa, and the two men signed a contract in 1999 agreeing to an annual remuneration of 300,000 Swiss francs, fully paid by Fifa.
But in January 2011, the former midfielder – who in the meantime became UEFA president (2007-2015) – “claimed a claim of 2 million Swiss francs”, qualified as a “false invoice” by the ‘charge.
The two men insist on their side that they had from the start decided on an annual salary of one million Swiss francs, by an oral “gentlemen’s agreement” and without witnesses, without the finances of Fifa not allow immediate payment to Mr. Platini.