The verdict fell on Friday July 8 at 10 a.m. in the main hall of the Swiss Federal Criminal Court (TPF) in Bellinzona, in the canton of Ticino. And it was a bomb sent by the court of criminal cases: Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini were acquitted in the case of the allegedly unfair payment of 2 million Swiss francs (1.9 million euros) that the first did the second, in February 2011.
The former Swiss president of the International Football Federation (FIFA), 86, and the former French boss of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), 67, have been released from charges of “fraud , unfair management, breach of trust and false titles”.
The former number 10 of the Blues is also not required to return 2.229 million Swiss francs to FIFA, invited by the TPF to act by the ” civil way “.
“My client’s full acquittal is the only correct outcome of this criminal proceeding.declares Dominic Nellen, Mr. Platini’s attorney. The court properly assessed the evidence and finally ended this unspeakable criminal proceeding. A neutral court finally found that no crime had been committed in this case. My client is completely whitened and relieved as a result. »
One year and eight months suspended prison sentence required
Representative of the Public Ministry of the Confederation (MPC) and responsible for investigating this case since 2019, the prosecutor Thomas Hildbrand had requested a suspended sentence of one year and eight months in prison and a probation period of two years against the two men. In November 2021, he had referred the duo to the TPF for “suspicions of fraud, unfair management, breach of trust and forgery in the titles”.
In his indictment, Mr. Hildbrand accused the defendants of having ” deceived “ ex-FIFA chief financial officer Markus Kattner with sending an invoice “fictitious that did not correspond to an existing claim”. And this in order to “illegitimately enrich Mr. Platini” before the re-election of Mr. Blatter, in June 2011, for a fourth mandate, with the support of UEFA.
During his indictment, on June 15, the magistrate had cut to pieces the defense of the defendants in the case of the presumed unfair payment: he swept away the thesis of the “wage balance” which would have been allegedly paid to the French for the years during which (1998-2002) he officiated as an adviser to Sepp Blatter. The defendants claimed to have sealed, in 1998, a “oral agreement” fixing an annual remuneration of 1 million Swiss francs for Mr. Platini.
For Mr. Hildbrand, “no verbal contract existed either before or after Blatter’s election to FIFA [en juin 1998], because it could not legally exist.. According to him, the two defendants initialed, in August 1999, a contract fixing the remuneration of the ex-player as ” independent “ at the height of “fifa secretary general salary”to 300,000 Swiss francs annually.
For the prosecutor, this payment of 2 million was “maybe the price for Mr. Platini’s silence in the context of the 2011 FIFA elections? »in which Mr. Blatter was re-elected for a 4e mandate, in June 2011, with the support of UEFA and its president.
Despite “lack of conclusive evidence” and motive in the indictment, the “question whether this payment was in relation” with the election of June 2011 ” must remain openaccording to the magistrate.
Relaunched Saga
For the prosecutor, these “2 million was a little extra sugar, a donation in exchange for personal service” for Mr. Platini, who had already invoiced FIFA “3.8 million Swiss francs” from 1999 to 2002 (travel expenses, bonuses, salaries of its collaborators, rental of an office in Paris).
The acquittal of Messrs. Platini relaunches the politico-judicial saga started in 2015 and constitutes a disavowal for the MPC and FIFA chaired by Gianni Infantino.
This case crushed Mr. Platini’s political ambitions and put his political career on hold. The opening of criminal proceedings by the MPC against Mr. Blatter in September 2015 led to the suspension of the FIFA President and the Frenchman by the FIFA Ethics Committee. Arch-favorite in the race to succeed the Swiss, Mr. Platini was then unable to run for the presidency of FIFA. It was his former right-hand man at UEFA, Gianni Infantino, who took the throne in February 2016.
In May 2016, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne lowered Mr. Platini’s radiation to four years. This sanction was then confirmed, in 2017, by the Swiss Federal Court in Lausanne, then by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), in 2020.
On the judicial level, Mr. Platini had first been heard as a “person called to give information” (assisted witness), in September 2015. He had believed himself exonerated when his lawyers had received, in May 2018 , a letter from the prosecutor, Cédric Rémund, explaining to them that the investigation was not aimed at their client. After prosecutor Hildbrand took over the case, the procedure was extended, in May 2020, to Mr. Platini.
Also listen Platini-Blatter: the two ex-football bosses in court