FIFA: Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini arrive in Swiss court for first day of fraud trial

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The trial of former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and French footballing legend Michel Platini over alleged corrupt payments was halted today when Blatter said he was suffering from chest pains and was having rouble breathing.

Blatter and Platini appeared at the Swiss Federal Criminal Court where they are facing corruption charges which triggered their downfall from the summit of global football.

The were both in a confident mood this morning arriving separately to the court in Bellinzona, smiling for the cameras and speaking to a large gathering of reporters and photographers.

But Blatter, who has been suffering from health issues and looked frail as he made his way through the crowd towards the courthouse, told judges inside he was unable to address the court due to chest pains.

‘The pain will come back and I am having difficulty breathing,’ the 85-year-old told the court in a whisper. The judges allowed him to make his testimony on Thursday, a day later than planned.

Earlier, lawyers for Blatter and Platini failed to shift the trial to a local court or dismiss FIFA’s civil claim against Blatter and Platter to reclaim the two million francs.

‘This case is being heard in the wrong stadium,’ Platini’s lawyer Dominic Nellen told the court, saying federal prosecutions should be reserved for large, international cases.

The judges dismissed the argument, and also allowed FIFA to remain involved.

‘It is obvious that FIFA has been damaged,’ said its lawyer Catherine Hohl-Chirazi. ‘Two million francs was stolen.’

Once among the game’s most powerful figures, Blatter and Platini are being tried over a two million Swiss franc (£1.6 million) payment in 2011 to Platini, who was then in charge of European football’s governing body UEFA.

Swiss prosecutors accuse them of having, to the detriment of FIFA, illegally obtained the payment, plus social security contributions of 229,126 francs, in favour of Platini.

The former French football great ‘submitted to FIFA in 2011 an allegedly fictitious invoice for a (alleged) debt still existing for his activity as an adviser for FIFA in the years 1998 to 2002,’ according to the court.

The case meant Blatter ended his 17-year reign as FIFA president in disgrace in 2015 and torpedoed hopes by former France midfielder Platini of succeeding him. Platini was forced to quit UEFA in 2016.

Blatter arrived accompanied by his daughter Corinne and his lawyer.

‘I am absolutely confident, the sun is shining.. and I’m in a good mood,’ Blatter told journalists before the hearing. ‘I know I have not done anything against the law. My life was football, for 45 years with FIFA. My life is football.’

Platini also said he was confident, and joked he would have to take course in German so he could follow the proceedings.

‘I am convinced that justice will be fully and definitively done to me after so many years of wild accusations and slander,’ he said in statement before the trial began. ‘We will prove in court that I acted with the utmost honesty, that the payment of the remaining salary was due to me by FIFA and is perfectly legal.’  

It is one of 25 investigations by the Swiss Office of the Attorney General (OAG) into corruption in football, with some 12 still pending. The United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has also investigated corruption in the game.

Following a mammoth six-year investigation that began in 2015, the OAG accused Blatter, 86, of ‘fraud, in the alternative of misappropriation, in the further alternative of criminal mismanagement as well as of forgery of a document’.

Platini, 66, is accused of fraud, misappropriation, participating in criminal mismanagement as an accomplice, and forgery of a document.

Blatter and Platini, who were once close associates but are now bitter enemies, have both denied wrongdoing. They say they had a verbal agreement over the payment, which related to consultancy work by Platini between 1998 and 2002.

The pair were banned from the sport at the very moment when Platini seemed ideally-placed to succeed Blatter at the helm of world football’s governing body.

The two allies became rivals as Platini grew impatient to take over, while Blatter’s tenure was brought to a swift end by a separate 2015 FIFA corruption scandal investigated by the FBI.

In the Bellinzona trial, the defence and the prosecution agree on one point: Platini was employed as an adviser to Blatter between 1998 and 2002. They signed a contract in 1999 for an annual remuneration of 300,000 francs.

‘The compensation agreed in accordance with this contract was invoiced by Platini on each occasion and paid in full by FIFA,’ said the OAG.

However, more than eight years after the end of his advisory role, the former France captain ‘demanded a payment in the amount of two million francs’, the OAG alleged.

‘With Blatter’s involvement, FIFA made a payment to Platini in said amount at the beginning of 2011. The evidence gathered by the OAG has corroborated that this payment to Platini was made without a legal basis. This payment damaged FIFA’s assets and unlawfully enriched Platini,’ the federal prosecution alleges.

The men insist that they had, from the outset, orally agreed to an annual salary of one million francs. 

Three judges will hear the case in the trial which runs until June 22. A verdict is due on July 8. If convicted, Platini and Blatter face up to five years in jail. 

The judges will have to go through the friendship formed between the defendants, their growing rivalry and then their joint ejection from world football – but also distinguish that from the alleged crimes at the heart of the court case. 

‘This case goes back to an event in 2011. It is an administrative matter, a salary payment that was owed,’ said Blatter. ‘The matter was correctly declared as a salary payment, accounted for accordingly and approved by all the relevant bodies of FIFA.’

Platini said: ‘I approach this hearing with serenity and confidence. I am convinced that justice will be fully and definitively done to me after so many years of wild accusations and slander. 

‘We will prove in court that I acted with the utmost honesty, that the payment of the remaining salary was due to me by FIFA and is perfectly legal.’

In a statement to AFP news agency, Platini said:  ‘It is outstanding salary, owed by FIFA, under oral contract and paid under conditions of the most perfect legality. Nothing else! I acted, as in all my life and career, with the utmost honesty.’ 

FIFA’s Ethics Committee banned Blatter and Platini from football in 2015, initially for eight years, although this was later reduced.

The committee said the transaction, made when Blatter was seeking re-election, lacked transparency and presented a conflict of interest. When Blatter approved the payment, he was campaigning for re-election against Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar. 

Platini, as president of European soccer association UEFA, was seen as having sway with European members who could influence the vote.

The OAG said its investigation revealed that Platini worked as a consultant between 1998-2002 and that an annual compensation of 300,000 Swiss francs was contractually agreed.

Platini’s invoice had been paid in full but the former France international later demanded further salary payments of two million francs, it said.

Platini, who captained France to victory in the 1984 European Championships, was forced to quit UEFA in 2016 after losing his appeal against his ban. He also lost his appeal at the European Court of Human Rights.

The three-time European footballer of the year had been favourite to replace Blatter after the Swiss administrator quit in the wake of the huge corruption scandal which engulfed FIFA in 2015. Instead, Platini’s former general secretary at UEFA, Gianni Infantino, entered the FIFA race and won the election in 2016.