Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has again denied that the World Football Association’s dubious payment to former UEFA director Michel Platini was illegal. The Frenchman spoke in the criminal court in Bellinzona, Switzerland, of an “outrageous” way of working by FIFA.
During the interrogation, 86-year-old Blatter said the suspicious payment of 1.8 million euros is a delayed wage payment. He finds it “incomprehensible” that he has to answer to the court for this.
Blatter, who was to be heard on Wednesday but then struggled with health problems, believes he has already been punished to the maximum because he has been “disowned” by the world. The media would also have given him a “criminal record”.
Blatter and Platini are on trial for a suspicious transaction from 2011. Platini, then president of the European football association UEFA, received a payment of 1.8 million euros from FIFA. According to Blatter, the 66-year-old Frenchman was entitled to that amount because of various work he is said to have performed. Swiss prosecutors are questioning that.
The former directors say they reached a verbal agreement in the late 1990s for an annual salary of nearly one million euros, for which Platini would advise FIFA boss Blatter. According to the chairman, that amount would have been too high for the union. That is why an amount of almost 300,000 euros was placed on the contract, after which the rest would be paid out later. Blatter said that was not possible in the coming years due to financial problems at FIFA.
Michel Platini leaves the court in Bellinzona.
Michel Platini leaves the court in Bellinzona. Photo: Getty Images
Blatter and Platini face up to five years in prison
Platini said in court that he did not immediately need the money and only went after it more than ten years later, when he heard that other former employees of the union were being paid out. According to him, ten days after he sent an invoice for his previous services in January 2011, he had the small 2 million euros in his account.
Platini, 66, called FIFA’s conduct “outrageous”. “I was called a money launderer and the goal was not to become FIFA president.” FIFA wants Platini to return the money. The world football association suspended Blatter in 2015 over the dubious payment to Platini, who himself stepped down in 2016 as president of the European football association UEFA.
Blatter and Platini face up to five years in prison for fraud, dishonest administration, breach of trust and forgery. The trial runs until June 22. A ruling is expected around 8 July.