Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter and former UEFA President Michel Platini have both been cleared of corruption charges by a Swiss court on Tuesday.
The two former football honchos were first acquitted of the offences a half year ago, but a Swiss federal prosecutor appealed their 2022 acquittal at a lower court.
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The pair, once among the most powerful figures in global football, were cleared of fraud at the Extraordinary Appeals Chamber of the Swiss Criminal Court in the town of Muttenz, near Basel, after they denied the charge, which related to a 2 million Swiss franc payment Blatter authorised for Platini in 2011.
The court said there were doubts about the prosecution’s allegation that the payment for Platini, a former captain and manager of the French national team, was fraudulent. The 2022 indictment had accused Blatter and Platini of deceiving FIFA staff in 2010 and 2011 about an obligation for world football’s ruling body to pay Platini.
“They falsely claimed that FIFA owed Platini, or that Platini was entitled to, the sum of 2 million Swiss francs for advisory work. This deception was achieved through repeated untruthful claims made by both accused parties,” the indictment said.
But the court cleared the pair, saying their account of an oral agreement for the payment could not be ruled out.
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