Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini back in Swiss court in Fifa fraud case

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and French football legend Michel Platini returned to the court in Switzerland to face fraud.

In 2022, the husband was acquitted in an experiment to pay 2 million Swiss francs (1.6 million pounds) to Platini and authorized by Blatter in 2011.

Both men denied violations and said that the transfer was late for the FIFA advisory work by Platini, who previously led the European Football Administration UEFA.

But the Swiss Federal Prosecutor appealed the decision. The new trial is expected to continue until Thursday, with a ruling on March 25.

The husband appeared in front of the Appeals Court in Motations, near Basel, on Monday. Blatter, 88, confirmed that he was innocent.

“When you talk about lies, lies and deception, this is not me. This was not present in my entire life,” he told the court.

A lawyer, 69, said that the minimum court that acquitted the couple in 2022 was “right to find that the disputed payment of France was legal.”

Platini had his brilliant career and three times winning the Ballon D’Or – Top Football Award in Europe.

He led France to win the European Championship in 1984 and won the European Cup in 1985 with Juventus. He continued to train the French national team and became UEFA president in 2007.

In 2015, representatives of the prosecution accused the spouses of deceiving FIFA about the payments that were introduced to Platini.

In his testimony in the first trial, Blatter said he asked Platini to work as his advisor in 1998. He added that at that time, FIFA could not bear the Swiss Swiss annual annual fees that Platini requested.

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

He stopped working in FIFA in 2002, but he initially did not follow the batch because he told the court that he did not need money at that time, and according to Blatter – was “FIFA”. In January 2011, Platini felt that in a position he was allowed to send an invoice and the money was paid after Blatter’s approval.

After the 2015 investigation, the Swiss prosecutors accused Blatter and Platini of fraud and fraud.

Also in 2015, FIFA suspended both legs of football to the violations of morals – originally for eight years, although their exceptions later declined.

In 2022, the Federal Criminal Court in Switzerland in Bilinsona surveyed Monday after accepting his novel for the “Silver Agreement” to pay.

The Swiss businessman and sports director Blatter joined FIFA in 1975, became Secretary -General in 1981, then Chairman of the World Football Association in 1998.

He remained in the role for 17 years until he resigned amid corruption investigations. Platini later pulled his candidacy for the president.