Ex-FIFA chief Blatter and Platini cleared of corruption again

Bangkok Post Group

Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter and France soccer great Michel Platini were both cleared of corruption charges by a Swiss court on Tuesday, two and a half years after they were first acquitted of the offences. - REUTERS

Transcript

00:00Leaving a Swiss court acquitted for the second time.

00:06Two former powerhouses of world soccer, former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and France soccer

00:12great Michel Platini, were cleared of corruption charges on Tuesday.

00:17Two and a half years after they were acquitted of the offences in 2022, the hearing came

00:21about after Swiss federal prosecutors appealed the first decision.

00:26Both men had denied the charge.

00:28Blatter was relieved outside the courthouse near Basel.

00:35I'm happy that the pressure that has been weighing on me for over ten years is now gone.

00:40It was a difficult time for me.

00:43And now the justice system has finally done what's right and proper.

00:50And of course, this is a big event for me, my family and also for my girlfriend.

00:57I still need to get myself together.

00:59I'm full of emotions right now.

01:05And I can tell you, life goes on and things are a little easier now.

01:15The case related to a 2 million Swiss franc, or $2.26 million payment, Blatter authorised

01:21for Platini, a former captain and manager of the French national team.

01:25The payment was a consultancy fee paid to Platini for work carried out between 1998

01:31and 2002, which he said had been partly deferred because FIFA lacked the funds to pay him in

01:37full immediately.

01:39The court said there were doubts about the prosecution's allegation that the payment

01:43was fraudulent and that the pair's account of an oral agreement for the payment could

01:48not be ruled out.

01:50The scandal emerged in 2015 when Platini was president of European soccer's ruling body

01:56UEFA and ended his hopes of succeeding Blatter, who was forced out of FIFA over the affair.

02:04Platini expressed frustration outside court after the decision, saying the case had been

02:10about preventing him from becoming FIFA president, but he added that today he is happy because

02:16this matter is over, we can move on.

02:21The Swiss Attorney General's office said it would review the judgement before deciding

02:25whether to appeal to the Swiss federal court, the country's highest legal authority.

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