Accused of having defrauded the world football body by obtaining an unjustified payment, the 66 -year -old French and the 86 -year -old Swiss face, in principle, five years of imprisonment.
Le Monde with AFP
A year and eight months suspended prison with Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter. The Swiss prosecution expressed its requisitions against the two men, accused of having defrauded the world football body by obtaining an unjustified payment.
Relentless on the “deception” lent to the accused, the prosecutor Thomas Hildbrand nevertheless refrained from claiming a firm sentence. In principle, the former leaders – fixed on their fate on July 8 – incur five years imprisonment.
For five hours, before the Federal Criminal Court of Bellinzone (South-East), the prosecutor tried to disentangle the drawer case which broke the career of the former allies in 2015 when Platini, then president UEFA, seemed ideally placed to succeed Blatter at the head of FIFA.
“Only their behavior with regard to criminal law,” immediately recalled Mr. Hildbrand. By leaving any political dimension out of scope, he focused on the 2 million Swiss francs (1.8 million euros) granted in 2011 by FIFA to Michel Platini, with the downstream of Sepp Blatter. It therefore does not matter that this dossier only resurfaced in 2015 and propelled at the head of world football the unexpected Gianni Infantino, right arm of Michel Platini at UEFA, targeted since 2020 by a separate procedure for three secret meetings with The parquet.
Blatter the “chameleon”
heard last Thursday by the court, the 66 -year -old Frenchman and the 86 -year -old Swiss claim to have “orally” decided that Platini would touch 1 million Swiss francs per year to advise Blatter between 1998 and 2002, just after having it Helped to access the head of FIFA.
But this agreement concluded without witnesses, contrary “to commercial uses” and never provisioned in the accounts of the organization, was invented afterwards to justify the invoice presented in 2011 by the triple Ballon d’Or, replied on Wednesday Prosecutor Thomas Hildbrand.
For him, Platini’s work was fully covered by a contract in August 1999 providing for 300,000 Swiss annual francs, where the two men claim to have agreed to pay “the rest later”, When FIFA finances allow it. Unlikely, swept the magistrate: even if the body had paid 1 million Swiss francs in Platini in 1999, it would have still had “more than 21 million francs in cash”, reservations set up at 327 million in 2002.
Now Sepp Blatter, who entered FIFA in 1975, “had a perfect knowledge” of his solvency. “When a chameleon feels threatened, he changes color: Blatter does the same thing,” said Thomas Hildbrand, for whom “there is no reason why FIFA” should have delayed payment.
The shadow of corruption
Additional inconsistency in the eyes of the prosecution, Platini ended up claiming in early 2011 500,000 annual francs in early 2011 for this period, rather than 700,000, explaining afterwards that he had never verified the sum which had been initially paid to it.
“Is it only at the time of the FIFA invoice that he would have lost his mathematical capacities?”, Has pretended to question the magistrate, recalling that the French had “passed without problem a calculation test” During his interrogation.
Thomas Hildbrand also stressed that Jérôme Valcke, FIFA secretary general in 2011, told investigators that Platini had first asked for 4 million francs, before establishing an invoice twice as high. “If you go from 4 to 2, it is because there was a negotiation, agreement between the parties,” said the magistrate, making this sum the counterpart “of a personal service” from Platini to Blatter. But which, when no mobile appears in the indictment?
Prudently, the prosecutor spoke of the support of the French and the UEFA Executive Committee to Blatter’s re -election to a fourth term, at the end of May 2011. “The question of whether this payment is in relation to the election must remain open, in the absence of convincing evidence, “recognized Thomas Hildbrand, leaving the shadow of corruption in the courtroom.
started last Wednesday, the trial must continue until June 22 with the pleadings of FIFA, civil party, then the defense.