Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and France football legend Michel Platini have been cleared of corruption charges by a Swiss court.
Gatekeepers News reports that the Federal Criminal Court in the southern city of Bellinzona on Friday, cleared Blatter, who led FIFA for 17 years, and Platini, a former France national team captain, and manager of fraud.
Prosecutors accused the duo of unlawfully arranging for FIFA to pay the Frenchman 2 million Swiss francs ($2.06 million) in 2011. Prosecutors had asked the court to impose suspended 20-month prison sentences on them and to compel them to repay Zurich-based FIFA 2.23 million Swiss francs.
The case ended Blatter’s reign as FIFA president in disgrace, and it wrecked Platini’s hopes of succeeding him following his ban from football when the affair came to light. Blatter, 86, had said the 2 million franc payment followed a “gentlemen’s agreement” between them when he asked Platini to be his technical adviser in 1998.
Platini, 67, worked as a consultant between 1998 and 2002 with an annual salary of 300,000 Swiss francs — the most FIFA could afford because of money troubles the organisation had at the time, Blatter told the court. The rest of Platini’s 1 million per year salary was to be settled at a later date, Blatter said.
“I want to express my happiness for all my loved ones that justice has finally been done after seven years of lies and manipulation,” Platini said in a statement.
“The truth has come to light during this trial,” he added. “I kept saying it: my fight is a fight against injustice. I won a first game.”
Prosecutors further stated that the oral agreement between the two men for Platini to be paid 2 million francs later for his consultancy work never existed, and described it as an “invention”.
in 2015, the pair were banned from soccer for eight years over the payment, although their bans were later reduced.
Platini, who also lost his job as UEFA president following the ban, said the affair was a deliberate attempt to thwart his attempt to become FIFA president in 2015.
