August 11 – Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has met with Swiss prosecutors in the latest round of talks over the long-running probe surrounding his CHF2 million “disloyal payment” to Michel Platini back in 2011.
Blatter, who spent a week in an induced coma after having heart surgery at the end of last year and whose six-year ban from football expires in October, has long claimed he did nothing wrong in making back payments based on a joint agreement.
But Swiss prosecutors suspect this was far from the truth, the payment having been made a few months before the 2011 FIFA presidential election.
The judicial case against Blatter and former UEFA boss Platini, whose respective careers were wrecked by the case, was opened over five and half years ago and is finally nearing its conclusion.
Due to Blatter’s condition, he was only meant to spend around 90 minutes at the federal prosecutor’s office in Zurich. Instead he spent more than two and a half hours inside on Monday and reportedly returned the following day.
Blatter was forced to stand down in 2015 and was originally banned by FIFA for eight years, later reduced to six, over ethics breaches when he authorised the so-called “disloyal payment” to Platini – in other words, one made in his own interests rather than FIFA’s.
“Specifically, the criminal proceedings against Joseph Blatter are now being conducted on suspicion of fraud, breach of trust and unfaithful business management,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement before Monday’s hearing.
“The criminal proceedings against Michel Platini are being conducted on suspicion of fraud, participation in breach of trust, participation in unfaithful management and false documents.”
While Blatter’s final hearings with the prosecutor were postponed to this month, Platini’s took place last March.
In a statement ahead of the hearing, Blatter said he was going into the session with optimism. He insisted the payment to Platini was above board.
“It was based on an oral contract that regulated Platini’s advisory activities for FIFA between 1998 and 2002,” he said. “The process was correctly declared as a late payment of wages.”
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