The acquittal of Michel Platini and Joseph Blatter, tried again in Switzerland in March for a case of alleged corruption that ended the dream of the former French player to preside over FIFA (International Football Federation), is now definitive due to lack of evidence.
“The Confederation Public Prosecution Service (MPC) gives up on appealing, thus accepting the verdict issued in the first and second instance,” the Swiss prosecutor said on Thursday (28) in a statement.
By accepting defeat, as on two occasions he had requested prison with conditional suspension against the accused without convincing the judges, the MPC ends ten years of a lawsuit with political branches.
“I know it was a story to keep me from being president of FIFA,” said Michel Platini.
The two former leaders were accused of “obtaining illegally, to the detriment of FIFA, a payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($ 2.5 million or $ 13.6 million reais) in favor of Michel Platini,” according to the prosecutor.
Defense and accusation agreed at one point: the three -time Golden Ball winner was sepp Blatter advisor between 1998 and 2002, during the first term of the last in front of FIFA, and the two men signed in 1999 a contract that established an annual remuneration of 300,000 Swiss francs (R $ 2.03 million), fully paid by FIFA.
But in January 2011, the former Juventus player-who was president of UEFA (2007-2015)-charged a “2 million Swiss frank debt”, qualified as “fake invoice” for the accusation.
The two men insisted that they had agreed from the beginning an annual salary of one million Swiss francs (R $ 6.76 million), through a “gentlemen’s agreement” and without witnesses, without FIFA finances allowed the payment at the moment.
The revelation of the case in mid -2015, shortly after the fall of SEPP Blatter due to a series of scandals, pushed Michel Platini off the race to FIFA presidency, paving the way for Gianni Infantino, at the time of the French right in Uefa.
