Agency :
French soccer great Michel Platini has been formally placed under investigation in Switzerland in relation to a $2 million payment he got from FIFA in 2011.
Swiss federal prosecutors this month extended their open criminal proceedings into then-FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s role in the payment to include Platini, according to a document seen Friday by The Associated Press.
Platini, who was the president of European soccer body UEFA at the time, is suspected of being an accomplice to criminal mismanagement, of misappropriation and an act of forgery, the document states.
The former France national team captain submitted invoices to FIFA in January 2011 seeking payment for an uncontracted additional salary from working as a presidential adviser in Blatter’s first term, from 1998-2002. He was paid the next month.
Five different courts and tribunals – including the FIFA ethics committee, the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the European Court of Human Rights – have ruled against Platini since Swiss prosecutors revealed the allegation in September 2015.
Platini and Blatter, who were both banned by FIFA, deny wrongdoing and have not been charged by Swiss prosecutors. Both were questioned at FIFA headquarters five years ago.
The office of Switzerland’s attorney general confirmed the proceedings against Platini and said “various hearings are planned at (our offices) in Bern during the third quarter of 2020.”
The prosecution office said it was unable to give any timetable for how the case could develop.
“I have total confidence in Swiss justice,” Platini said in a statement. “I am once again at their disposal and am absolutely serene.”
Platini’s four-year ban expired in October and he has been planning to return to the sport. He turned 65 last week.
French soccer great Michel Platini has been formally placed under investigation in Switzerland in relation to a $2 million payment he got from FIFA in 2011.
Swiss federal prosecutors this month extended their open criminal proceedings into then-FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s role in the payment to include Platini, according to a document seen Friday by The Associated Press.
Platini, who was the president of European soccer body UEFA at the time, is suspected of being an accomplice to criminal mismanagement, of misappropriation and an act of forgery, the document states.
The former France national team captain submitted invoices to FIFA in January 2011 seeking payment for an uncontracted additional salary from working as a presidential adviser in Blatter’s first term, from 1998-2002. He was paid the next month.
Five different courts and tribunals – including the FIFA ethics committee, the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the European Court of Human Rights – have ruled against Platini since Swiss prosecutors revealed the allegation in September 2015.
Platini and Blatter, who were both banned by FIFA, deny wrongdoing and have not been charged by Swiss prosecutors. Both were questioned at FIFA headquarters five years ago.
The office of Switzerland’s attorney general confirmed the proceedings against Platini and said “various hearings are planned at (our offices) in Bern during the third quarter of 2020.”
The prosecution office said it was unable to give any timetable for how the case could develop.
“I have total confidence in Swiss justice,” Platini said in a statement. “I am once again at their disposal and am absolutely serene.”
Platini’s four-year ban expired in October and he has been planning to return to the sport. He turned 65 last week.
