Lausanne (AFP)
The Swiss judiciary acquitted the former heads of the International and European Federations, the Swiss Joseph Blatter and the French Michel Platini, in a case of fraud and forgery that destroyed their administrative career.
The Criminal Court in Plinzona did not agree to the Public Prosecution’s requests in mid-June, to imprison Blatter, 86, and Platini, 67, with a suspended sentence of one year and eight months, for defrauding FIFA, with Platini obtaining unjustified compensation of two million francs. Swiss, worked as a consultant for Blatter between 1998 and 2002.
Platini and Blatter signed a written agreement in August 1999 to pay FIFA 300,000 Swiss francs annually, confirming that they agreed by verbal contract to pay 700,000 Swiss francs annually, more when FIFA finances allow it.
Platini, the three-time European Golden Ball holder for the best player in the eighties, who held the presidency of the European Union “between 2007 and 2015” and was aspiring to the presidency of FIFA, presented a bill of 2 million Swiss francs at the beginning of 2011, which Blatter signed and presented to FIFA as a late salary balance, while The Public Prosecution Office considered it false.
The two men who sought the acquittal alleged political and judicial manipulation aimed at removing them from power.
During the investigation and two weeks of hearings, the defense sought to introduce the possibility of a possible behind-the-scenes role for current FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who was Platini’s right-hand man at UEFA, and then was unexpectedly elected to the FIFA presidency at the beginning of 2016, following a historic corruption scandal and the waste of hundreds of millions of money from dollars to the officials of the football organization.
It is noteworthy that the European and International Federations have their headquarters in Switzerland, in Zurich and Nyon, respectively.
Blatter joined FIFA in 1975 and became Secretary-General in 1981 and then head of the largest football organization starting in 1998. In 2015 he was forced to give up his position and suspended eight years, reduced to six, for violating the rules of ethics.
As for Platini, who is considered among the most prominent players in the history of football, in turn, he was subjected to an eight-year ban, which was reduced to four by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
