Swiss authorities acquitted former presidents of the international and European football federations, Swiss Joseph Blatter and French Michel Platini, on Friday in a fraud case that ended their administrative careers. The criminal court in Bellinzona did not agree with the public prosecutor's requests in mid-June to imprison Blatter (86 years old) and Platini (67 years old) for a year and eight months with suspended sentences, regarding fraud against the international federation (FIFA) in which Platini received an unjustified compensation of two million Swiss francs (€1.8 million) for consultancy work on behalf of Blatter.
Blatter (86 years old) confirmed in a previous session that Platini earned the money he received, explaining the "lack of understanding" for facing Swiss justice on fraud charges alongside his former advisor. Since the investigation began in 2015, Blatter stated that he verbally accepted what the former French star, a three-time winner of the Ballon d'Or for best player in the world, requested in exchange for his reliance on Blatter’s sports reputation to take the presidency of FIFA in 1998, before appointing him as a consultant to the international federation.
He said, "When I was elected as president of FIFA, our balance was negative. But I thought the man who played football could help us, FIFA and I." He added, "Platini said to me, ‘I am worth a million,’ and I replied: ‘Then you will be with me for a million.’" It is noteworthy that Blatter was forced to resign from his position in 2015 amid a wide-ranging corruption scandal and was later banned from any activities related to the sport after criminal proceedings began concerning this case.
The prosecution accused Blatter of approving a bill of two million Swiss francs (€1.8 million) submitted by Platini, who was then the president of the European football federation (UEFA), to FIFA in early 2011, nearly nine years after his work as Blatter's consultant between 1998 and 2002 had ended.
In addition to the lack of signatures on any agreement stipulating such a salary, their only written contract in 1999 specified an annual salary of 300,000 Swiss francs (US$306,000), which FIFA paid in full at that time.
