PARIS (AFP) - Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, once the chiefs of world and European football, were cleared Friday over a suspected fraudulent payment that shook the sport and torpedoed their time at the top.
Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court in the southern city of Bellinzona acquitted the pair in a trial following a mammoth investigation that began in 2015 and lasted six years.
Former FIFA president Blatter, 86, and Platini, 67, listened in silence as the clerk read out the judgment which rejected the prosecution’s request for a suspended prison sentence of a year and eight months.
“A neutral court has finally found that no offence has been committed in this case. My client is completely cleared and relieved as a result,” said Platini’s lawer Dominic Nellen.
Former French football great Platini released a short statement claiming to have “won the first round”, while alluding to alleged political and judicial manipulation intended to remove him from power.
“In this case, there are culprits who did not appear during this trial. Let them count on me: we will find one other,” he said.
Platini was employed as an adviser to Blatter between 1998 and 2002.
Blatter told the court that when he took over as FIFA president in 1998, world football’s governing body had a bad record and he thought someone who had been a top figure in playing the game could help.