By John Revill
ZURICH (Reuters) – French footballing great Michel Platini was accused of fraud to torpedo his chances of becoming the head of world soccer’s governing body FIFA, his lawyer told a Swiss court on Wednesday.
Platini, a former captain and manager of the French national team who also used to run Europe’s football authority UEFA, is facing corruption charges in an appeal against his acquittal two-and-a-half years ago.
The Swiss federal prosecutor says the 69-year-old illegally took payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($2.25 million) from FIFA in 2011, after it was approved by the organisation’s former President Sepp Blatter.
Blatter is also accused of fraud in the hearing at the Extraordinary Appeals Chamber of the Swiss Criminal Court in the municipality of Muttenz near the city of Basel.
Blatter and Platini, once among the most powerful men in global football, both deny the charges and were acquitted by a lower court in July 2022, which prosecutors are contesting.
“These criminal proceedings never had the goal of punishing an alleged crime. Rather, it was a means of getting Michel Platini out of the way,” his lawyer Dominic Nellen said.
The investigation into the payments wrecked Platini’s hopes of succeeding Blatter.
Blatter and Platini were suspended from football in 2015 by FIFA for ethics breaches, originally for eight years, although their exclusions were later reduced.
Nellen said the prosecutors had allowed themselves to be used by FIFA to prevent Platini, a three-time European footballer of the year, from taking the reins.
When he was questioned by prosecutors in September 2015 about the payment, details were announced to media even though no charges were made, Nellen said.
DENIED FIFA PRESIDENCY
“The public criminal proceedings against Michel Platini was thus opened, with the effect that Michel Platini could not become president of FIFA,” Nellen said.
The investigation had to move quickly because in late 2015 the post of FIFA president was vacant after Blatter left following a separate corruption scandal.
Blatter was eventually replaced by Gianni Infantino, who had worked for Platini at UEFA. Infantino owed his candidacy to the fact that Europe’s preferred candidate, Platini, was banned.
“FIFA and its boss Gianni Infantino did everything to ensure that the federal prosecutors’ office get Michel Platini out of the way once and for all,” Nellen told the court.
FIFA did not respond to a request for comment.
Infantino has denied helping to bring about Platini’s downfall and said he only stepped up when UEFA asked him to after allegations against Platini emerged. “Up until then, the idea of being a candidate for the FIFA president had not entered my head,” he told French newspaper L’Equipe in 2018,
Nellen said the 2 million francs was the back payment for consultancy work that Platini had done for Blatter from 1998 to 2002, and was to cover the difference between what he received and what had been agreed earlier between the two.
“These proceedings have cost Michel Platini his career. It is time to finally put an end to this unworthy chapter,” the lawyer said.
The Swiss prosecutor is seeking a sentence of 20 months, suspended for two years, for Blatter and Platini.
A verdict is expected on March 25.
($1 = 0.8876 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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