January 21 – Last August Swiss prosecutors announced they would not be appealing a ruling that cleared Michel Platini of fraud over the CHF2 million payment he received from FIFA in 2011. It was the second time he had been cleared.
Four months later Platini is biting back. In late November he filed a complaint at the Paris Judicial Court for public defamation, with a civil claim for damages being registered on December 19, according to France’s L’Equipe newspaper.
Platini’s complaint is against three former FIFA executives for public statements made against him in 2015 and 2016, in interviews or press releases.
A fourth person, a member of a Swiss judicial institution is also named in the complaint.
The case against Platini (pictured right) over the payment for work done for FIFA between 1998 and 2002 (the payment was not made until 2011) came to light in 2015. At the time Platini was standing for the FIFA presidency against his former mentor Sepp Blatter, who was also investigated by Swiss prosecutors over the payment.
The result was that Platini, UEFA president at the time, as well as Blatter, had to withdraw from the FIFA presidential election while the Swiss prosecutors investigated. Platini’s European backing was taken by his general secretary Gianni Infantino (pictured left), who was seen as a place filler for Platini who was expected to return to the election once the investigation was complete. The investigation was slow walked and in June 2016 Infantino made it all the way to the top of world football’s slippery pole, being elected FIFA president.
Platini has always maintained that there was a conspiracy against him and that he suspected that it was Infantino who reported the payment to the Swiss authorities whose investigation inevitably blocked his election.
Infantino was himself investigated by the Swiss judiciary in the early years of his FIFA presidency for improper approaches to the Swiss prosecutors, but was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing. Interfering with the course of justice in most countries carries a custodial sentence.
Last week Platini spoke out against Infantino, saying: “Gianni Infantino likes the rich and the powerful – those who have money. It’s in his nature. He was like that when he was number two, but back then he wasn’t the boss.
“With me FIFA would have become an organisation that cares about football, not politics.
“I was destined to become FIFA president. All of this happened because they didn’t want that.
“This suspension was a grave injustice and in the end, it was political. A group of people decided to destroy me.”
Infantino is not named in the defamation suit.
He is up for re-election as FIFA president in 2027. Platini would be eligible to stand against him, though he has previously said he doesn’t envisage a return to football politics. Though he will not refrain from sticking the knife into his former employee and such is his feeling of past injustice he could well do so repeatedly.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1768995594labto1768995594ofdlr1768995594owedi1768995594sni@n1768995594osloh1768995594cin.l1768995594uap1768995594
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