After six years of investigations and a two-week trial, the Swiss judiciary on Friday acquitted the former heads of the International and European Federations, Swiss Joseph Blatter and Frenchman Michel Platini, for lack of sufficient evidence in a fraud and forgery case that ended their administrative careers in the world of football.
The criminal court in Plinzone denied prosecutors’ requests in mid-June to jail Blatter, aged 86, and Platini, aged 67, with a one-year, eight-month suspended sentence, based on fraud against the International Federation. (FIFA) for Platini’s unjustified compensation of two million Swiss francs (€1.8 million) for consulting work for Blatter between 1998 and 2002.
Platini and Blatter signed a written agreement in August 1999 stating that FIFA would pay CHF 300,000 annually, confirming that they had agreed to pay CHF 700,000 annually, and more when FIFA’s finances allowed.
Platini presented an invoice for two million Swiss francs (1.8 million euros) in early 2011, which Blatter signed and presented to FIFA as arrears in wages, and was deemed false by the prosecutor.
While Blatter convinced the referees that the former Juventus star “deserved a million,” Platini called the talks so informal that he didn’t specify the currency.
The two men who sought acquittal alleged political and judicial machinations aimed at removing them from power.
The defense was keen to present the possibility of a possible behind-the-scenes role for incumbent FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who was Platini’s right hand man at FIFA and then was unexpectedly elected to the FIFA presidency in early 2016, following a historic corruption scandal and spending hundreds of millions of dollars on football organization officials.
Infantino has been prosecuted by the Swiss judicial authorities since 2020 under a separate procedure regarding three secret meetings with a former Swiss prosecutor.
Notably, the International Federation and the European Union are based in Switzerland, in Zurich and Nyon, respectively.
