The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) of Switzerland has announced that the ex-FIFA president Sepp Blatter and former UEFA head Michel Platini have both been indicted over the unlawful arrangement of a $2.19 million payment.
Prosecutors in Switzerland have been probing the 85-year-old Blatter regarding allegations that he arranged for Platini, 66, to be paid by world soccer governing body FIFA back in February of 2011 and an investigation was eventually opened in 2015 as a series of scandals emerged.
A FIFA ethics investigation saw both men banned from the sport and forced to vacate their roles with Blatter and former France international and 1984 European Championship winner Platini both accused by the OAG of fraud as an alternative to misappropriation and criminal mismanagement as well as document forgery.
Platini was charged as an accomplice, yet both were banned from soccer for a six-year period in 2016 regarding the payment, which Blatter had approved for work done a decade before, although both denied any wrongdoing.
“I look forward to the trial before the Federal Criminal Court with optimism and I hope that this story will come to an end and that all the facts will be dealt with properly,” read Blatter’s statement on Tuesday.
“Regarding the payment of the sum of two million francs from FIFA to Michel Platini, I can only repeat myself: It was based on an oral contract that regulated Platini’s advisory activities for FIFA between 1998 and 2002.”
Blatter claimed that payment was delayed because FIFA Was unable to pay the entire amount and that Platini only claimed the money in 2010 while payments had been approved by “all responsible FIFA bodies” and that Platini was taxed on the sum in Switzerland.
Platini has not yet spoken publicly since the news, but his Swiss lawyer Dominic Nellen said last month that “the investigation should have been discontinued long ago” as “there are enough witness reports and documents in the case files that prove my client’s innocence.”
Per the OAG’s investigation findings, Platini worked as a consultant for then FIFA chief Blatter between 1998-2002 with annual compensation agreed at $328,000 in a written contract which the Frenchman invoiced, was paid in full for and then continued to request payment for.
“Over eight years after the termination of his advisory activity, Platini demanded a payment in the amount of two million Swiss francs,” said the OAG. “With Blatter’s involvement, FIFA made a payment to Platini in said amount at the beginning of 2011.
“The evidence gathered by the OAG has corroborated that this payment to Platini was made without a legal basis. This payment damaged FIFA’s assets and unlawfully enriched Platini. In the view of the OAG, the accused have committed the offences listed.”
