French football legend Michel Platini has claimed that accusations of fraud were aimed at sabotaging his aspirations to become the President of FIFA, the global governing body of soccer, according to his lawyer’s statement in a Swiss court this Wednesday.
Platini, who previously captained and managed the French national team and held the position of UEFA chief, is embroiled in corruption charges as he appeals against his acquittal from two-and-a-half years ago.
The Swiss federal prosecutor alleges that the 69-year-old unlawfully accepted a payment of 2 million Swiss francs (approximately $2.25 million) from FIFA in 2011, following approval from the organisation’s former President, Sepp Blatter.
Blatter is also facing fraud allegations in the ongoing hearing at the Extraordinary Appeals Chamber of the Swiss Criminal Court, located in Muttenz, near Basel.
Both Blatter and Platini, who were once seen as two of the most influential figures in international football, have denied the allegations and were acquitted by a lower court in July 2022, a decision now being challenged by prosecutors.
“These criminal proceedings were never intended to address an alleged crime. Instead, they served as a mechanism to eliminate Michel Platini,” stated his lawyer, Dominic Nellen.
The inquiry regarding these payments shattered Platini’s ambitions of succeeding Blatter.
In 2015, FIFA imposed an eight-year suspension on both Blatter and Platini for breaches of ethics, although their bans were later reduced.
Nellen asserted that prosecutors had been manipulated by FIFA to thwart Platini, a three-time European Footballer of the Year, from assuming the presidency.
He further mentioned that during the investigation in September 2015 concerning the payment, details were leaked to the media even though no formal charges had been filed.
BLOCKED FROM FIFA PRESIDENCY
“The public nature of the criminal proceedings against Michel Platini effectively barred him from becoming FIFA president,” Nellen remarked.
The investigation was expedited due to the vacancy in the FIFA presidency following Blatter’s departure amid another corruption scandal in late 2015.
Blatter was ultimately succeeded by Gianni Infantino, who had previously worked under Platini at UEFA. Infantino’s candidacy was significantly bolstered by the fact that Europe’s preferred choice, Platini, was banned.
“FIFA and its leader Gianni Infantino did everything possible to ensure that the federal prosecutors would eliminate Michel Platini once and for all,” Nellen told the court.
FIFA did not respond to a request for comment regarding the case.
Infantino has denied any involvement in Platini’s fall from grace, asserting that he only entered the race following UEFA’s request after allegations against Platini surfaced. “Before that, I had no intentions of running for FIFA president,” he told French newspaper L’Equipe in 2018.
Nellen clarified that the payment of 2 million francs was actually back pay for consultancy work that Platini had conducted for Blatter between 1998 and 2002, intended to reconcile the difference between the compensation received and what had originally been agreed upon.
“These proceedings have cost Michel Platini his career. It is time to finally bring this regrettable chapter to a close,” the lawyer expressed.
The Swiss prosecutor is pursuing a 20-month suspended sentence for both Blatter and Platini.
A verdict is anticipated on March 25.
Compiled by SportArena.com.au.
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