Fifa: Platini in Bern to plead his case before Swiss justice

Michel Platini, former boss of European football, pleaded his case Monday in Bern before Swiss justice as part of the procedure opened in 2015 for a suspicious payment of 2 million Swiss francs by Sepp Blatter, then president of Fifa.

The former triple Ballon d'Or, wearing a suit and a blue shirt without a tie, arrived by taxi around 8.45am local time in front of the headquarters of the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Confederation (MPC).

Accompanied by his lawyer, Dominic Nellen, he entered the building, displaying a brief smile and greeting the journalists present with a hello.

Platini was heard by prosecutor Thomas Hildbrand.

At the beginning of June, he extended to the former captain of the Blues the investigation which until then targeted Blatter, at the origin of a controversial payment in 2011 of 1.8 million euros, without a written contract, to Platini, for a consultancy work completed in 2002.

“We are awaiting the testimony of other witnesses in the coming days.

There is nothing we fear as they will tell the truth and the prosecutor can see for himself that there is nothing illegal about this payment ”

Master Nellen

The federal prosecution has thus decided to extend its investigation to Platini, for suspicion of "complicity in unfair management, embezzlement and forgery in titles".

Former UEFA boss, the 65-year-old Frenchman now has the status of "accused".

Platini was auditioned for three hours.

“Everything went very well in terms of the questions for my client,” his lawyer told AFP after the interview, which was held behind closed doors.

“He answered all the questions the prosecutor asked him and told how it all happened and what the truth is about the two million payment.

We await the testimony of other witnesses in the coming days.

There is nothing we fear because they will tell the truth and the prosecutor can see for himself that there is nothing illegal about this payment, ”added Master Nellen.

Blatter is due to be heard from him on Tuesday.

Two other former senior executives of Fifa are also targeted: the French Jérôme Valcke, ex-secretary general, and the German Markus Kattner, ex-financial director, "for suspicion of unfair management," said the MPC.

As such, Mr. Kattner will be auditioned on September 4.

In June, Platini indicated that the MPC had “confirmed in writing in May 2018 to (his) lawyer that this file dating from 2015 was closed with regard to (him).

I have no reason to believe that DA Hildbrand has a different view. ”

"After five years, it is quite possible that Fifa continues to harass me through complaints with the sole objective of being able to keep me away from football and to sully my reputation," said the former -star player of Juventus.

Swiss justice opened criminal proceedings in September 2015 targeting Sepp Blatter over this suspicious payment.

“I repeat, it was an overdue salary for work done by Michel Platini.

The sum was validated by the finance committee.

This can not be criminal, "Blatter recently told AFP, saying" serene "before this new hearing.

This suspicious payment earned both Blatter, 84, and Platini a multi-year suspension from all football-related activities, which prevented the former UEFA president from running for the FIFA presidency in 2016.

Platini's suspension was confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) which reduced it to four years, then by the Swiss Federal Court and finally by the European Court of Human Rights.

The Swiss justice has already closed another procedure for "unfair management" against Sepp Blatter, also opened in 2015 and relating to the award of a television rights contract to the Caribbean Football Union (CFU).

But an appeal has been filed against this classification order.

In this context, Mr. Blatter was already questioned at the end of July and the beginning of August by Mr. Hildbrand concerning a private jet flight carried out in 2007 by Jack Warner, for an amount of more than 350,000 USD, paid by Fifa, and for an unsecured loan of USD 1 million to the Federation of Trinidad and Tobago, then chaired by Mr. Warner.

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