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Blatter and Platini cleared in corruption case

Acquittals for Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini at second instance
Acquittals for Sepp Blatter (pictured) and Michel Platini at second instance. Keystone-SDA

A Swiss court has confirmed the acquittals of former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and former UEFA president Michel Platini at first instance. It acquitted the two former football officials of all charges.

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The prosecution’s case centred on a payment of CHF2 million ($2.25 million) to Platini for FIFA consultancy work following a verbal contract with Blatter. The evidence supports the statement that this payment was a residual salary, said the court president in his judgement. The Extraordinary Appeals Chamber in Muttenz, canton Basel Country, therefore had doubts about the indictment, which led to an acquittal for the two “in dubio pro reo”.

+ Blatter, Platini return to court for new fraud trial over CHF2 million FIFA payment

The federal prosecutor’s office had accused the two of fraud, embezzlement, aiding and abetting and forgery of documents, among other things. Following the acquittals, they lodged an appeal with the Federal Criminal Court in 2022.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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