New twist in the Platini – Blatter case. The Swiss public prosecutor’s office announces that it has appealed the acquittal of Michel Platini and the former FIFA president, the Swiss Sepp Blatter, pronounced on July 8. The two international football bosses were being prosecuted in a case of fraud, unfair management, and breach of trust and risked a five-year prison sentence.
The Public Ministry of the Swiss Confederation (MPC, public prosecutor’s office) announced that it had “filed a notice of appeal with the Court of Appeal of the Federal Criminal Court (TPF)» of Bellinzona then “requested the total annulment of the judgment of first instance” returned on July 8, indicates a press release confirming information from the team. The prosecution stressed that it would not make any further statement on this subject.
Platini “was worth his million”
Platini and Blatter will therefore have to face a new trial in the case of the allegedly unfair payment, in February 2011, of 2 million Swiss francs (about 1.5 million euros at the exchange rate at the time) received by the former number 10 of the Blues at the request of the former FIFA boss. The two men insisted on their side that they had from the start decided on an annual salary of one million Swiss francs, by a «accord the gentlemen» orally and without witnesses, without FIFA’s finances permitting immediate payment to Mr. Platini.
French “Worth His Million”, Sepp Blatter had assured the magistrates, before Michel Platini in turn described a negotiation so little formalized that he had not specified the motto: “Me, for fun, I said pesetas, liras, rubles, marks, it’s up to you”, had told the legend of the Blues in court.
The latter considered that the scam was not “not established with a likelihood bordering on certainty”, therefore applying the general principle of criminal law that “doubt must benefit the accused”. A pure and simple relaxation was pronounced. Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter, said they were victims of a legal plot, hatched according to them by Gianni Infantino, the current boss of world football, with a view to ousting them from high places.