Ex-FIFA and UEFA bosses charged by Swiss justice

Sepp Blatter, 85, was ordered to attend a hearing with the Swiss justice authorities earlier this year. Keystone/Walter Bieri

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland has indicted former FIFA President Sepp Blatter with fraud and other offences after a six-year investigation into a controversial CHF2 million ($2.2 million) payment.

The prosecutor’s office accuses the former head of the Zurich-based world football governing body of fraud, mismanagement and forgery of documents, according to a statement published on Tuesday.

Former UEFA president Michel Platini, 66, has also been indicted in the case involving the payment in 2011.

“This payment damaged FIFA’s assets and unlawfully enriched Platini. In the view of the Office of the Attorney GeneralExternal link, the accused have committed the offences listed,” the statement said.

They now face a trial within months at federal criminal court in Bellinzona. 

It is the latest stage in a drawn-out criminal investigation into Blatter and Platini. The case centers on Platini’s written request to FIFA in January 2011 to be paid backdated additional salary for working as a presidential adviser in Blatter’s first term, from 1998-2002. Blatter authorised FIFA to make the payment within weeks. He was preparing to campaign for re-election as FIFA president.

Both have denied wrongdoing and cited a verbal agreement they had made, now more than 20 years ago, for the money to be paid.

The Swiss investigation was opened in 2015 amidst the series of scandals which engulfed FIFA. The affair led to a FIFA ethics investigation which saw both men banned from the game and forced to leave their positions.

Blatter told the Swiss news agency, Keystone-SDA, that he was optimistic about the court procedure and he hoped that the facts would finally be fully established.