Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and UEFA chief Michel Platini have been charged with fraud and other offences in Switzerland. Swiss prosecutors say Blatter unlawfully arranged a transfer of two million Swiss francs ($2.19m; £1.6m) to Platini in 2011.
Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini to Stand Trial for Fraud
The Prosecutors also said the payment “damaged FIFA’s assets and unlawfully enriched Platini”. Sepp Blatter and Platini will now face trial at a court in Bellinzona. The case was opened six years ago after FIFA was dogged by accusations of widespread corruption.
FIFA’s ethics committee launched an investigation, which saw the two men banned from the game and forced to leave their positions. The affair ended Blatter’s 17-year spell in charge of FIFA and then-UEFA president Platini’s campaign to succeed his former mentor. Both Blatter and Platini pleaded not guilty to all the charges they were accused of. The Swiss case centres on a request for payment for advisory work Platini did for Blatter between 1998 and 2002.
The prosecutors said Platini demanded the payment “over eight years after the termination of his advisory activity”. “With Blatter’s involvement, FIFA made a payment to Platini in a said amount at the beginning of 2011,” the prosecutors said.
Lawyers of both men have said they are enough witness reports and documents to prove the innocence of their client’s innocence. The lawyer said he is 100% confident that he will be able to prove the innocence of his client in court.
