Sepp Blatter, the former president of FIFA, and Michel Platini, the former UEFA president and football legend, have once again declared their innocence in a Swiss court regarding accusations of fraud. The two were initially cleared of these charges in 2022 by a lower Swiss court following a lengthy investigation into a payment of 2.2 million Swiss francs (approximately £1.7 million) made by FIFA to Platini in 2011. This payment was reportedly for consultancy work done by Platini for FIFA a decade earlier, and it had been approved by Blatter. However, the Swiss federal prosecutor appealed the verdict, leading to a new hearing at the extraordinary appeals chamber of the Swiss criminal court in Muttenz, near Basel.
During the Monday court session, Blatter maintained that he was not guilty of any fraudulent activity. In his testimony, he firmly denied any involvement in falsehoods or deceptive behavior, stating, “When you talk about falsehoods, lies, and deception, that’s not me. That didn’t exist in my whole life. We had principles in my family – we take only money we have earned. I am innocent.” Blatter, who had served as FIFA president for 17 years before resigning in 2015 amid a separate corruption scandal, expressed his frustration with the legal proceedings. He described himself as the target of a “witch-hunt” and emphasized that he was entering the court session with a positive mindset. “Today is a very sunny day, and I’m going into this with positive energy,” Blatter told reporters outside the court.
Platini also spoke in his defense, recounting the circumstances surrounding the payment from FIFA. He explained that he had entered into a contract with Blatter in the late 1990s to work as an advisor to FIFA president, which ran from 1998 to 2002. However, Platini was not immediately paid for his services because Blatter had informed him that FIFA lacked the funds at the time. Platini said that in 2011, when FIFA asked him to submit an invoice, he did so without hesitation, calculating the payment based on the terms of the original agreement. “It was 500,000 multiplied by four years; that’s two million. I made an invoice and 10 days later I was remunerated, and I paid my taxes on it,” Platini explained.
The fraud accusations stem from the claim that Blatter and Platini misled FIFA staff in 2010 and 2011, making false statements about the obligation of FIFA to pay Platini as UEFA president for advisory work. According to the indictment, Blatter and Platini allegedly deceived FIFA staff by asserting that FIFA owed Platini the sum of 2 million Swiss francs, or that Platini was entitled to this amount. The prosecution accused them of repeatedly making false claims to justify the payment.
Both Blatter and Platini had been suspended from football by FIFA in 2015 for ethics breaches, initially for eight years. However, their suspensions were later reduced. In the 2022 case, the judge ruled in their favor, accepting their version of events, which involved a “gentlemen’s agreement” regarding the payment. The court also noted significant doubts about the prosecution’s claims of fraud.
The Swiss federal prosecutor, however, is not satisfied with the 2022 verdict and has appealed for a harsher sentence. They are seeking a sentence of 20 months, suspended for two years, for both Blatter and Platini. A final decision on the case is expected by March 25.
