SWISS STATE PROSECUTORS confirmed on Tuesday they have started the appeal process against the acquittal of former football chiefs Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini over a suspected fraudulent payment.
Blatter and Platini, once the chiefs of world and European football respectively, were cleared on 8 July by the Federal Criminal Court in a trial following a mammoth investigation that began in 2015.
The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) confirmed to AFP it had taken the first step in appealing against the verdict.
“The OAG has… filed an appeal,” it said in a brief statement.
The Federal Criminal Court, based in the southern city of Bellinzona, must now provide a written explanation of its verdict, a process that can take some time.
This will then be considered by the OAG, which will then decide whether to maintain the appeal or withdraw it.
“This is not a preliminary decision. The judgment, to be justified in writing by the court as a result of the appeal application, will form the basis for further examination by the OAG,” the office said.
Former FIFA president Blatter, 86, and Platini, 67, were cleared of the allegations that shook world football and torpedoed their time at the top.
The Federal Criminal Court rejected the prosecution’s request for a suspended prison sentence of a year and eight months.
The trial revolved around payment for Platini’s work as an adviser to Blatter between 1998 and 2002.
Platini was accused of having submitted to FIFA in 2011 an allegedly fictitious invoice for a claimed debt still outstanding for his advisory work.
They signed a contract in 1999 for an annual remuneration of 300,000 Swiss francs, which was paid in full by FIFA.
But the pair were tried over a two million Swiss franc ($2.06 million) payment in 2011 to Platini, who was then in charge of European football’s governing body UEFA.
Blatter told the court the pair had actually struck a “gentleman’s agreement” for Platini to be paid a million Swiss francs a year.
Both were accused of fraud and forgery of a document. Blatter was accused of misappropriation and criminal mismanagement, while Platini was accused of participating in those offences.
The court concluded that fraud was “not established with a likelihood bordering on certainty”, and therefore applied the general principle of criminal law according to which “the doubt must benefit the accused”.
Joseph “Sepp” Blatter joined FIFA in 1975, became its general secretary in 1981 and the president of world football’s governing body in 1998.
He was forced to stand down in 2015 and was banned by FIFA for eight years, later reduced to six, over ethics breaches for authorising the payment to Platini.
Platini is regarded among world football’s greatest-ever players. He won the Ballon d’Or, considered the most prestigious individual award, three times.
Platini was UEFA’s president from January 2007 to December 2015.
First Henshaw now Carty great to see some Athlone lads starting to make a breakthrough
Best of luck to Jack Carthy, great to see Connacht fielding a young, all Irish back line.
Would love to see Jordi have a great game at 7 and get into 6 nations contention to fill the gap left by SOB. Will also be keeping a close eye on Henry and Tommy O’ D tonight
C’mon Connacht.
Exciting game ahead. Leinster will be scratching after last yrs result but Connacht will meet ye more than half way!!!!
FYI. You have only listed 14 starting players for Leinster. Devon Toner has become a one-man machine in the second row…
Scratch that, you have added Tom Denton.
I have. He just about caught the bus. Cheers.
Tom Denton catching something? What’s seldom is wonderful
Kirchner on the wing, hopefully he’ll spark some exciting back plays.
Murphy at 7 puts even more pressure on Henry and o’donnell
He’s only back from injury but I really liked the work rate and professionalism of o donnell last year! I think at the moment if have him and murphy ahead of Henry in the long run
I’d rather go to a funeral than watch a rugby match
In that case shouldn’t you read an obituary column instead of an article on rugby?
Paulie I’d say you depress everyone at a funeral
Give it to him Lizzy!
Right in his Walnuts!
Haha, if I thought he had some Robby I would but my guess is he’s all mouth and no trousers ;)
Nicely put Elizabeth, well said!
There something wrong in the system when the IRFU won’t give the appropriate funds to a team who funds an all irish backline but prefers to spend money on big name signings to boost another provinces profile. Then they are wondering why they are not unearthing players to fill the roles of the retiring legends of the last few years? Connacht could be a good conveyor belt for Ireland in areas that are been missed, just look at Athlone.
Both Munster and Leinster are producing massive amounts of Irish players and ulster have brought some through too. To say spending money on overseas players is a waste is just wrong.
Players like Isa and rocky done so much for Leinster
As did dougie and him Williams for Munster and all these young ulster backs
I assume you’re referring to the same Connacht who are the only province not restricted by the IRFU’s stringent new rules on overseas recruitment & who boast more overseas players in their squad than any other province? Change the record. We’ve all heard this tune before
Del. We have relatively few non-Irish players and more and more of our squad is IQ. In face more and more of our squad is Connacht academy.
The reason why Connacht is not bound by the overseas rule is because the IRFU implicitly want Connacht to be a development province. They are not explicit about it because it annoys everyone here but that is the reason. Hence Connacht IQ players can be moved to other provinces and they are told to shop abroad.
The first example of this was Macca. Granted Connacht did well to bring Clarke in, but it will not always work out that like.
Personally I would much prefer Connacht to be properly funded and have the same rules apply to us as the rest of the provinces.