Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini cleared in corruption case | OneFootball

Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini have been acquitted for a second time on charges of fraud, forgery, mismanagement and misappropriation of £1.7 million in FIFA funds (h/t the Guardian).

A Swiss federal criminal appeals court ruled in their favour, dismissing the prosecution’s argument that the payment was illegal.

The attorney general’s office in Switzerland had challenged their initial acquittal from July 2022. They were pushing for a 20-month suspended sentence for the former FIFA and UEFA presidents.

However, they convinced the court that the funds were used for legitimate consultancy work.

The pair were in hot water over a payment from FIFA to Platini with Blatter’s approval in 2011 for a supplementary and non-contracted salary working as a presidential advisor between 1998 and 2002.

Swiss prosecutors argued that the alleged contract did not have paperwork, so the transaction had no legal backing and ‘unlawfully enriched Platini’ at the time.

They both stuck to their guns, claiming they verbally agreed to a deferred salary due to FIFA’s financial perilous finances.

Blatter, who was replaced by Gianni Infantino, described the case as a burden lifted after years of back and forth.

“You have seen my daughter was coming with tears because she believed in [her] father, and I believed in myself,” Blatter said.

“To wait such a long time affects the person, and my family was very much affected.”

Plattini’s lawyer, Dominic Nellen, also called for an end to the witch hunt, especially after his client has now been acquitted twice.

“After two acquittals, even the office of the attorney general of Switzerland must realise that these criminal proceedings have definitively failed,” Nellen said.

He also hinted that he could take legal action against those who wrongfully accused his client of fraud, forgery and misappropriation of funds.

This ruling marks the latest chapter in a saga that began in September 2015, when Swiss authorities launched an investigation into FIFA’s leadership.

On that day, police questioned both men after a FIFA executive meeting, as Platini was a front-runner to replace Blatter as president, but the scandal cost them their jobs.

FIFA’s ethics committee later banned them from football, with Platini claiming the case was politically motivated to derail his presidential ambitions.