michel platini and the former president of FIFAthe Swiss sepp blatterwas acquitted this Friday in Switzerland on a fraud case that in 2015 broke the Frenchman’s ambition to reach the top of world football.
The Federal Criminal Court of Bellinzona did not comply with the requirements of the prosecution, requesting in mid-June, respectively, one year and eight months conditional imprisonment, while the two defendants affirmed their innocence.
Within two weeks, the 67-year-old Frenchman and the 86-year-old Swiss appeared for “illegally obtained, at the expense of FIFA, a payment of 2 million Swiss francs” (1.8 million euros) “in favor of Miguel Platinum”.
The defense and the prosecution coincided at one point: the triple Golden Ball coached Sepp Blatter between 1998 and 2002, in the latter’s first term as head of FIFA, and the two signed a contract in 1999 that agreed -according to the annual compensation of 300,000 Swiss francs, fully paid by FIFA. But in January 2011, the former midfielder – who became president of UEFA (2007-2015) – “sought a claim of 2 million Swiss francs”, described as a “false invoice” of the “accusation”.
Both insisted on their part that from the outset they had decided on an annual salary of one million Swiss francs, by a verbal “gentleman’s agreement” and without witnesses, without FIFA’s finances not allowing immediate payment to Platini.
Source: La Verdad
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