PARIS (Dispatches) - Former world football chief Sepp Blatter on Monday met with a Swiss prosecutor investigating suspected fraud surrounding a FIFA payment to Michel Platini, as the long-running probe inches towards a conclusion.
Former FIFA president Blatter, 85, is being investigated over a two million Swiss franc ($2.2 million, 1.85 million euro) payment in 2011 to Platini, who was then in charge of European football’s governing body UEFA.
After the interview at the federal prosecutor’s office in Zurich, the city where FIFA has its headquarters, Blatter said he would return on Tuesday to resume the final hearing in the investigation.
“It is a normal audience. It’s the first part. The second part will be tomorrow,” he told journalists waiting outside.
“It was in a good spirit.”
Blatter, who was accompanied by his lawyer Lorenzo Erni, said he would spend the rest of the day resting and working. He smiled and waved as he was driven away.
The hearing with a federal prosecutor from the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) of Switzerland was postponed to August due to the retired Swiss football administrator’s health.
He spent two months in hospital in December and January after undergoing heart surgery, and in March was convalescing in a clinic.
Due to Blatter’s condition, he was only meant to spend around 90 minutes with the prosecutor on Monday. But he spent more than two and a half hours inside and said he would return on Tuesday.