SEPP Blatter and Michel Platini back in the Swiss Court in the case of FIFA fraud

The former president of the SEPP Blatter FIFA and the French football legend Michel Platini are back in the court in Switzerland to face fraud accusations.

In 2022, the couple was acquitted in a trial for a payment of 2 million Swiss francs (£ 1.6 million) made to Platini and authorized by Blatter in 2011.

Both men denied irregularly and said that the transfer was late for the payment of FIFA for Platini’s advice work, who previously directed the governing body of UEFA European football.

But the Swiss federal prosecutor appealed against the decision. The new trial is expected to last until Thursday, with a verdict on March 25.

The couple appeared before a Court of Appeals in Muttenz, near Basel, on Monday. Blatter, 88, reaffirmed that he was innocent.

“When you talk about falsehoods, lies and deception, that is not me. That did not exist in my whole life,” he told court.

A 69 -year -old Platini lawyer said that the lower court that acquitted the couple in 2022 was “right to discover that the dispute payment of 2 million francs was legal.”

Platini had an illustrious career as a player and is three times winner of the Golden Ball, the highest individual football award in Europe.

He captured France for victory in the 1984 European Championship and won the 1985 European Cup with Juventus. He then trained the French national team and became UEFA president in 2007.

In 2015, prosecutors accused the misleading FIFA couple about Platini payments.

In his testimony in the first trial, Blatter said he had asked Platini to work as an advisor in 1998. He added that at that time, FIFA could not pay the annual 1M Swiss French rate requested by Platini.

Instead, they decided on the partial payment, with the pending balance that will be paid on a later date. Platini said during the trial: “I trusted the president and knew he would pay me one day.”

He stopped working for FIFA in 2002, but initially did not follow the payment, since he told the Court that he had not needed the money at that time and, according to Blatter, the FIFA was “bench.” In January 2011, however, Platini felt he was in a position to send an invoice and the money was paid after Blatter’s approval.

After an investigation launched in 2015, the Swiss prosecutors accused Blatter and Platini of falsification and fraud.

Also in 2015, FIFA suspended both football men for ethical infractions, originally for eight years, although their exclusions were reduced later.

In 2022, the Federal Criminal Court of Switzerland in Bellinzona cleared both after accepting his account of a “gentlemen agreement” for payment.

The Swiss businessman and sports administrator Blatter joined FIFA in 1975, became general secretary in 1981 and then president of the governing body of world football in 1998.

He remained on paper for 17 years until he renounces in the midst of corruption investigations. Platini then withdrew his own candidacy for the president.