Blatter, Platini cleared of fraud in Swiss trial
BERN: Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter and France footballing legend Michel Platini were both cleared of corruption charges by a Swiss court on Friday. Blatter, who led FIFA for 17 years, was cleared of fraud by the Federal Criminal Court in the southern city of Bellinzona. Platini, a former France national team captain and manager, was also acquitted of fraud. The two, once among the most powerful figures in global soccer, had denied the charges against them. On Friday they joked and shook hands before the judgment and looked relieved as the verdict was read out. Platini described his joy after the acquittal, saying the allegations had turned him from a legend of world soccer to a "devil". "I want to express my happiness for all my loved ones that justice has finally been done after seven years of lies and manipulation," Platini said in a statement. "The truth has come to light during this trial," he added. "I kept saying it: my fight is a fight against injustice. I won a first game."
Prosecutors had accused Blatter, a Swiss who led global soccer body FIFA for 17 years, and Platini of unlawfully arranging for FIFA to pay the Frenchman two million Swiss francs ($2.06 million) in 2011.
The case meant Blatter ended his reign as FIFA president in disgrace and it wrecked Platini's hopes of succeeding him after he was banned from football when the affair came to light.
Blatter, 86, had said the two-million franc payment followed a "gentlemen's agreement" between the pair when he asked Platini to be his technical adviser in 1998. Platini, 67, worked as a consultant between 1998 and 2002 with an annual salary of 300,000 Swiss francs – the most FIFA could afford because of money troubles the organisation had at the time, Blatter has told the court.
The rest of Platini's one million per year salary was to be settled at a later date, Blatter said.
The senior judge, Josephine Contu Albrizio, said a verbal agreement between Blatter and Platini seemed credible, as did the Frenchman's seeing his market value at 1 million per year due to his status in the game.
It also seemed implausible that Platini would have worked only on the basis of written contract that paid him such a paltry sum, the judge told the court. It was also credible that Platini sought the extra money only in 2010 as he did not need the money immediately.
The payment emerged following a huge investigation launched by the US Department of Justice into bribery, fraud and money-laundering at FIFA in 2015, which triggered Blatter's resignation. Both officials were banned in 2015 from soccer for eight years over the payment, although their bans were later reduced.
Platini, who also lost his job as UEFA president following the ban, said the affair was a deliberate attempt to thwart his attempt to become FIFA president in 2015.
Platini's former general secretary at UEFA, Gianni Infantino, entered the FIFA race and won the election in 2016.
相关推荐
-
It's Unnecessary But, AMD Is Basically Lying About CPU Performance
-
Lindenbaum festival to perform symphonies of peace near DMZ next week
-
Pence takes Korean War veterans' children to repatriation ceremony in Hawaii
-
Why new phones will never come with removable batteries ever again
-
Gastro Obscura's Guide to Where to Eat in Nashville
-
兴宁径南歌王诞生!汪幸、刘银玲、陈建湘分获冠亚季军
- 最近发表
-
- We Asked GPT Some Tech Questions, Can You Tell Which Answers Are Human?
- Chrissy Teigen is obsessed with WrestleMania and we just fell in love all over again
- Protesters storm the Capitol steps in D.C. over police violence
- [Herald Interview] ‘Declaring end to Korean War catalyst for NK denuclearization’
- Expanded police surveillance will get us “broken windows” on steroids.
- HBO announces 'Game of Thrones' will return in 2019
- 汉源县公安局交警大队创新宣传方式 营造良好交通秩序
- Two brothers receive father's dog tag returned from N. Korea
- Unionized hospital workers pull out from strike
- 新春促消费,疆品再南下:近千款新疆特产集中在广州北京路展销
- 随机阅读
-
- 广州市白云区供销联社携手6所院校15支队伍,加力提速推进“百千万工程”
- Two brothers receive father's dog tag returned from N. Korea
- 广东“三产融合”助力林业产业提档升级
- Activists consider suspending leaflet operation pending Kim Jong
- If aliens harnessed solar power, could we detect them? NASA investigated.
- Chrissy Teigen is obsessed with WrestleMania and we just fell in love all over again
- Listen: Kendrick Lamar just dropped a new song for 'Black Panther'
- 广东“三产融合”助力林业产业提档升级
- The Future of Tech: The Desktop PC
- Ruling party vows to revise law to designate heat waves as natural disasters
- Star Wars effects master shares secrets of blue milk scene in 'Last Jedi'
- Govt. denies report of ship carrying N. Korean coal
- CPUs Don't Matter For 4K Gaming... Wrong!
- US urges North Korea to cease provocative actions, reaffirms security support for South Korea
- Meghan Markle is the princess of British Google search trends in 2017
- 'I came here, I played hard': Pakistani wrestler Inam wins gold at World Beach Games
- Gastro Obscura's Guide to Where to Eat in Nashville
- West Bengal asks colleges to have separate toilets for transgenders
- HBO announces 'Game of Thrones' will return in 2019
- Andy Murray wins Wimbledon, has the best ice bath ever
- 搜索
-
- 友情链接
-