Bern (AP) – The trial for fraud and other offenses against former FIFA President Joseph Blatter and former UEFA boss Michel Platini begins on June 8th. The Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona in the canton of Ticino published the date on April 12.
According to the indictment, Blatter is said to have unlawfully approved a FIFA payment of two million francs (at the current exchange rate almost two million euros) plus social security contributions to Platini.
Platini submitted a “presumably fictitious invoice to FIFA in 2011 for an (allegedly) still existing claim for his consulting work for FIFA between 1998 and 2002,” according to the court. The trial is scheduled to last until June 22nd.
Platini’s defense attorney Dominic Nellen said in a statement that the case against his client was politically motivated. This was to prevent him from becoming FIFA President.
The Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office brought charges in November 2021. She sees no legal basis for the payment and an unlawful enrichment of Platini. Blatter (86) and Platini (66) had always rejected the allegations.
The FIFA Ethics Committee banned Blatter and Platini six years ago. For both of them, the sanction, some of which was later reduced in duration, meant the end of their careers. Blatter had previously announced his retirement from FIFA leadership.