The chapter already seemed closed for ex-Fifa president Sepp Blatter (86) and ex-Uefa boss Michel Platini (67). In July, the Federal Criminal Court acquitted her of fraud. But now the two have to go into extra time.
The federal prosecutor’s office has decided to appeal against this acquittal. She applied to the Court of Appeal for annulment of the judgment in first instance.
The federal prosecutor’s office filed a precautionary appeal in July. Now she is definitely challenging the verdict, as the federal prosecutor’s office confirmed on Thursday.
Six years of research had preceded it
The Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona acquitted the two former football officials of fraud in July this year. At the time, the judges did not respond to the request of the prosecutor, which in mid-June had demanded a year and eight months’ probation for Blatter and Platini. The two-week trial for a dubious payment of one million euros against Blatter and Platini was preceded by six years of investigation.
There is no question that Platini had an advisory contract with Blatter during his first term as FIFA president between 1998 and 2002. However, instead of the 300,000 Swiss francs per year agreed in writing, he received about two million francs for two years. Blatter and Platini had denied the prosecution’s allegations and assured that they had agreed to this verbally and without witnesses.
Initially, the federal prosecutor’s office did not provide any further information about the content of her appeal. (SDA)