Michel Platini, the former head of UEFA, told a Swiss appeals court on Monday, where his acquittal on fraud charges is being reviewed, that FIFA “owed” him the two million Swiss francs ($2.2 million) central to the case.
“I still don’t understand why the public prosecutor’s office is picking on me,” the French three-time Ballon d’Or winner stated at the start of his hearing.
The special appeals court, located in Muttenz near Basel, is considering a request from the country’s Attorney General’s office (OAG) to reopen proceedings against the 69-year-old Platini and former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who turns 89 on March 10.
Get Instantly Update By: Joining Our Whatapps and Telegram Channel
The legal saga began in 2015, when Blatter resigned as FIFA president amid a corruption scandal. The case revolves around the delayed payment of two million Swiss francs that FIFA made to Platini, who served as UEFA president from 2007 to 2015, in 2011 for consultancy services.
Both Platini and Blatter were acquitted by the Swiss Federal Court in June 2022 on charges including “disloyal management,” “breach of trust,” and “forgery of securities.” The court concluded that fraud was “not established with a likelihood bordering on certainty” and gave them the benefit of the doubt.
Back in court on Monday, Platini explained that he was “surprised” when Blatter first asked about his salary expectations upon joining FIFA as an advisor in 1998 to help Blatter win the presidency.
“As I didn’t know this world, the world of FIFA, I randomly said ‘one million’,” Platini recalled.
“He asked me ‘one million of what?’. I wanted to joke a bit and said ‘one million of whatever you want: roubles, pesetas, lire’. And Mr. Blatter said ‘one million Swiss francs’.”
In 1999, Blatter allegedly told Platini, who had been advising without a written contract, that he could not pay him the agreed million. They then agreed on a written deal for 300,000 Swiss francs.
“He told me: ‘I’ll give you the balance later, when we have money at FIFA’,” Platini said.
Platini presented an invoice in 2011 for the remaining amount, which the public prosecutor described as a “false invoice” intended to defraud the organization.
Platini insisted he would have taken legal action had FIFA not paid the invoice.
“A contract is a contract, a word is a word,” Platini said. “FIFA owed me that money, and I would have done anything to get it back.”
Blatter, speaking on Monday, said that he had reached a “gentleman’s agreement” with Platini, but that the agreement was purely oral, made without witnesses, and did not appear in FIFA’s official accounts.
