A “gentlemen’s agreement” between Blatter and Platini
On Thursday morning, the former FIFA president assured that the money paid to the French consisted of “a salary due”, following an oral agreement between the two men.
Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini meet this week at the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona.
AFP
How light can you stay when you win millions? The trial of Michel Platini and ex-FIFA president Sepp Blatter for fraud turned into a clash of cultures on Thursday, between the informal backstage of world football as described by the accused and the palpable amazement of the Swiss justice system.
“When Mr. Blatter asked me to be his advisor, he asked me what salary I wanted. I was surprised that he asked me this question and I said to him, “I want a million,” said the three-time Ballon d’Or, 66, on the second day of his trial before the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona.
“Sepp said to me ‘a million what?’ And I, for fun, I said “pesetas, liras, rubles, mark, it’s up to you” He said to me: “Okay, a million Swiss francs” continues the ex-captain of the Blues, your naughty , while recalling that he “succumbed to the charisma” of de Walliser to make him FIFA president in 1998.
“I do not know how it works”
Silent for a few seconds, President Joséphine Contu Albrizio hesitates, then ensures that the former UEFA boss (2007-2015), who seemed destined to take the helm of FIFA in turn, until his misfortune judge pronounced it in 2015. , understood “the differences in value” between currencies.
“I had never been in an administration like FIFA, I don’t know how it works (…) I answered like that, a million,” wipes the former darling of world football, the first to combine to this extent, until his downfall, sporting glory and political responsibilities.
However, the credibility of his story, bolstered by Sepp Blatter’s, is at the heart of the trial of the two men for a suspicious payment of 2 million Swiss francs (1.8 million euros) made to the French by FIFA in 2011. promised.
Five years in prison
For the defendants, it concerns the “balance”, albeit overdue, of the remuneration agreed between them for the consultancy work performed by Platini between 1998 and 2002, consisting of assisting Blatter in his political movements, the financial helping the federations and reforming the international calendar.
But the prosecution considers it an “unfounded” payment obtained through “clever deception” of FIFA’s internal controls through false claims made by the two allies, a fraud punishable by five years in prison.
In particular, the prosecution points to the contradiction with the only contract signed in August 1999 between the two men, which provided for compensation of 300,000 Swiss francs per year, which had been arranged by the Zurich authorities.
Miscalculation?
But Blatter like Platini give a different reading of this document, a temporary arrangement in light of FIFA’s then fragile finances. Platini “said to me, “That’s not all,” and I answered him, “The rest comes later,” the court told 86-year-old Walliser.
“I just had this man home and he was worth his million,” continued the fallen king of world football, tired at the end of the hearing on Wednesday but very alert on Thursday morning, confirming a verbally concluded “gentlemen’s agreement”, without witnesses. , and never recorded in FIFA’s accounts.
“I earn very well”
Another cause for bewilderment for the magistrates, the miscalculation of Michel Platini, who ended up demanding 500,000 Swiss francs a year from FIFA and therefore forgot about 200,000, because he had not checked how much he had already touched. “It’s me, I was wrong,” the Frenchman recognizes as laughter spreads through the courtroom. “I realized that when the public prosecutor showed me the contract from 1999 during the interrogation”.
Still, the president insists: why did you never bother to state the outstanding balance? “I trusted the person. And you will understand that in our discussions I was not concerned about money, because since I was 17 I have earned a very good life”.
Concordant version
“I just had this man at home and he was worth his million”, for his part assured the former FIFA president Sepp Blatter a little earlier in the day, “cannot understand” why he and his former adviser.
Michel Platini “told me ‘I’m worth a million’. I told him: “So you’ll be with me for a million,” added de Walliser, who was forced to resign in 2015 due to a major corruption scandal and subsequently banned from football following the initiation of criminal proceedings in this case.
The prosecution accuses Blatter of validating an invoice of 2 million Swiss francs (1.8 million euros) in early 2011, which Michel Platini, then UEFA president, presented to FIFA, almost nine years after the end of his work. as a consultant between 1998 and 2002 .
“A Salary That Was Due”
Since the initiation of this investigation in 2015, Blatter assured that he had verbally accepted the compensation demanded by the triple Golden Ball when the Swiss relied on his sporting aura to take on the head of FIFA in 1998, before taking him to his office. advisor made. “When I was elected president, we had a bad track record. But I told myself that a man who has played in football could help us, FIFA and myself,” he said.
“It’s a salary that was owed,” hammered the Swiss. “I don’t know why we are in a criminal case, for an administrative procedure within an association,” he was outraged, his voice choked, repeating that he had already served “seven years of punishment, an eternity”.
The hearing will last until June 22, with a decision expected on July 8.
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