adminZURICH. – Former UEFA president, Michel Platini, hit out at world football governing body FIFA yesterday when questioned at his fraud trial in Switzerland.
Speaking shortly after Joseph Blatter, his fellow defendant and former FIFA boss was questioned, an angry Platini said:
“What FIFA has done to its president and to me is a scandal. I was called an account forger and a money launderer.
“The aim was for everyone to know that I should not be FIFA president. There is justice in life and I hope it comes to light.”
On the second day of the trial at the Swiss Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona both Blatter and Platini also complained about their case being pre-judged in the media.
Blatter said he would not answer questions from FIFA as the FIFA president “has also never answered me since March 2016,” he said, with a nod to Gianni Infantino, a FIFA representative who is appearing as a private plaintiff in the proceedings.
He said the payment of 2 million Swiss francs (US$2.07 million) to Platini in 2011 had gone through all due process at the world football governing body.
“It is an owed, late payment of wages,” Blatter said. “It’s an administrative matter in an association and it will be dealt with according to civil law.”
Being questioned by a prosecutor in 2015 over allegations of fraud caught him by surprise. “This shock has lasted seven years now, this shock is still there,” Blatter said.
He said he had already faced the “maximum penalty” at the time, being “ostracised” in the world. “The media gave me a criminal record,” Blatter added.
The pair are charged with defrauding FIFA over the payment Platini received for work done as an advisor between 1998 and 2002 among other offences.
After his election as FIFA boss 1998, he had agreed to cooperate with Platini, Blatter said. The latter had told him: “I am worth a million.”
The 66-year-old Frenchman Platini reported: “I have told him for fun, ‘pesetas, roubles or marks, you have to decide that.”
In August 1999, a contract backdated to the beginning of the year was agreed with a salary of 300,000 Swiss francs. When Platini pointed out that this was not the full amount agreed, Blatter said, “We’ll see about that later.”
When asked about the timing, Platini said the payment “was not vital for me,” and laughed off it being 800,000 francs less than supposedly agreed. “That’s me,” the former European champion replied with a laugh. “I was mistaken.” – msn.com
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter