Blatter, Platini Return to Court for Retrial in FIFA Fraud Case
The Facts
Former FIFA and UEFA chiefs Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini returned to a Swiss federal court on Monday for a retrial on forgery, fraud, and misappropriation charges related to a Blatter-approved payment of 2M Swiss francs, more than $2.2M, to Platini in 2011.
This comes as the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland and FIFA appealed against a 2022 ruling that found the two not guilty, and are seeking sentences of 20 months, suspended for two years, for their alleged scheme to defraud the world's soccer body.
The case was opened four years after the payment, as its details only emerged during the corruption crisis that hit FIFA in 2015, with early-morning arrests at hotels in Zurich and the seizure of FIFA financial and business records.
The Spin
Narrative A
This retrial is absolutely nonsensical and a waste of time and public resources, as the Federal Criminal Court confirmed that the contract between Blatter and Platini at the heart of this case was legitimate. Hopefully, Swiss federal prosecutors carrying out this witch hunt will not succeed.
Narrative B
Blatter and Platini were acquitted in the first trial due to a lack of conclusive evidence, so it's only natural that prosecutors have appealed for a retrial. The latter was paid for his consultancy services only years later, and based on a verbal agreement is a red flag indicating their business dealings were murky.