Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports
On Friday, a Swiss court cleared former FIFA President Sepp Blatter and former UEFA President Michel Platini of corruption charges.
Blatter, FIFA’s president for 17 years, was cleared of fraud by the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, Italy.
Platini, a former captain and manager of the France national team, was also found not guilty of fraud. The two, who were once among the most powerful figures in world football, had denied the allegations leveled against them.
Prosecutors charged Blatter, a Swiss who led FIFA for 17 years, and Platini with illegally arranging for FIFA to pay the Frenchman two million Swiss francs (£1.7 million) in 2011.
The case meant that Blatter’s tenure as FIFA president ended in disgrace.
When Blatter asked Platini to be his technical advisor in 1998, he said the payment was the result of a “gentlemen’s agreement.”
Platini worked as a consultant for FIFA between 1998 and 2002, earning 300,000 Swiss francs (£257,000) per year – the most FIFA could afford due to financial difficulties at the time, according to Blatter.
Blatter stated that the remainder of Platini’s one-million-pound-per-year salary (£857,000) would be settled at a later date.
Although the two men met in 2010 and discussed the upcoming FIFA presidency elections in 2011, the reasons for the payment were unclear.
When Blatter approved the payment, he was running for re-election against Qatar’s Mohamed bin Hammam. Platini, then-president of UEFA, was thought to have clout with European members who could influence the vote.
The payment became public after the US Department of Justice launched a massive investigation into bribery, fraud, and money-laundering at FIFA in 2015, prompting Blatter’s resignation.
In 2015, both officials were banned from football for eight years due to the payment, but their bans were later reduced.
Platini, who was also fired as UEFA president as a result of the ban, claimed the affair was a deliberate attempt to derail his candidacy for FIFA president in 2015.
Following the verdict, Platini stated, “I want to express my happiness for all my fans.”
“My fight is a fight against injustice. I won a first game.
“In this case, there are culprits who did not appear during this trial. Let them count on me, we will meet again. Because I will not give up and I will go all the way in my quest for truth.
“Believe me, going from being a legend of world soccer to a devil is very difficult, especially when it comes to you in a totally unfair way.”
