Former French international Michel Platini and former Fifa president Sepp Blatter of Switzerland were acquitted Friday, July 8, in Switzerland in the fraud case that shattered the Frenchman’s ambitions to become the head of world soccer in 2015.
The Federal Criminal Court of Bellinzona did not follow the recommendations of the prosecution, which had requested in mid-June respectively one year and eight months of suspended imprisonment, while the two defendants claimed their innocence.
For two weeks, the 67-year-old Frenchman and the 86-year-old Swiss had appeared for having “illegally obtained, to the detriment of Fifa, a payment of 2 million Swiss francs” (1.8 million euros) “in favor of Michel Platini.
The defense and the prosecution agreed on one point: the three-time Ballon d’Or winner did advise Sepp Blatter between 1998 and 2002, during the latter’s first term at the head of Fifa, and the two men signed a contract in 1999 agreeing on an annual remuneration of 300,000 Swiss francs, paid in full by Fifa.
