Michel Platini and the former president of Fifa, the Swiss Sepp Blatter, were acquitted on Friday in Switzerland in the fraud case which in 2015 shattered the Frenchman’s ambitions to reach the top of world football.
The Federal Criminal Court of Bellinzona did not follow the requisitions of the prosecution, which had requested in mid-June respectively one year and eight months of suspended prison sentence, while the two accused claimed their innocence. The 67-year-old Frenchman and the 86-year-old Swiss had each pleaded for acquittal, they who saw in this file a manipulation intended to remove them from power.
Infantino’s Shadow
The affair broke out in 2015. At the time, the former French international, crowned with his sporting glory and powerful leader, was the natural favorite to succeed Blatter, aged and entangled in several scandals. But the Swiss finally dragged “Platoche” in his fall, with this story of payment of 2 million Swiss francs in favor of the French, and “to the detriment of Fifa”.
According to the two men, behind this affair is the shadow of the current president of the International Federation, Gianni Infantino, former right-hand man of the French elected in 2016 following the forfeiture of the latter in 2016. But Swiss justice refused to link the case of the payment to Platini to the procedure involving secret meetings between Infantino and the former chief prosecutor.