A week earlier, he had only been auditioned for a handful of hours. This time, Monday, September 7, Michel Platini left at the end of the afternoon from the headquarters of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Swiss Confederation (MPC), in Bern, where he was heard at greater length by the prosecutor Thomas Hildbrand in the case the alleged unfair payment of 2 million Swiss francs (1.8 million euros) made to him in February 2011 by the former president of the International Football Federation (FIFA) Sepp Blatter.
Opened in September 2015, the MPC’s investigation into this payment is accelerating. The Frenchman could be reconvened in the coming months.
In June, proceedings since 2015 against Mr Blatter, 84, for “Suspicion of breach of trust and unfair management” has been extended to the former boss of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for “Suspicion of participation in an unfair management and forgery in the titles”.
MM. Platini and Blatter have always ensured that the sum had been paid as an arrears of wages for the period (1998-2002) when the ex-number 10 served as adviser to the president of FIFA.
Undecided countryside
While Mr. Blatter was also interviewed at length on 1er September, the tracks followed and the questions raised by the Swiss justice become clearer.
According to our information, the investigators want to verify whether this payment, which was the subject of an invoice sent in January 2011 by Mr. Platini to FIFA, was a way or not for Mr. Blatter to obtain the support of the Frenchman and UEFA in view of the presidential ballot at the International Federation on 1er June 2011.
At the time, the campaign for the FIFA presidency was undecided. Qatari Mohammed Ben Hammam, powerful boss of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), had initially unsuccessfully tried to convince Mr. Platini to stand against Mr. Blatter before declaring his candidacy. Then, Mr. Platini had for a time thought of supporting Qatari before leaning for the outgoing president.
In a letter of May 6, 2011, the UEFA executive committee formalized its unanimous support for Mr. Blatter, inviting its member federations to vote in his favor.
1er June 2011, the Swiss boss of FIFA was reelected without an opponent, after the package on May 29 of Mr. Ben Hammam, suspended for an alleged fraud. Mr. Blatter then promised his voters that this fourth term at the head of the world body would be the ” latest “. The Helvète then led the French to believe that he would pass the torch to him in the next election. He will eventually stand for re-election in 2015, at age 79, for a fifth term.
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