Blatter pleads not guilty to corruption charges
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter pleaded not guilty as he appeared in a Swiss court on Monday alongside Frenchman Michel Platini. Blatter and Platini were acquitted in 2022 by a lower Swiss court after a seven-year investigation into a 2 million Swiss franc ($2.22 million) payment to Platini, the report said. KosovaPress.
The Swiss federal prosecutor has appealed against this decision, leading to a new hearing at the Extraordinary Appeals Chamber of the Swiss Criminal Court in Muttenz, near Basel. The prosecutor requested the full annulment of the verdict.
Blatter told the court on Monday that he was not guilty of fraud.
"When you talk about lies, deceit and deceit, that's not me. That hasn't existed in my entire life," he said. "We had principles in my family – we only take the money we earned. I am innocent," he said. KosovaPress.
The 2022 indictment accused Blatter and Platini of deceiving FIFA staff in 2010 and 2011 in connection with the world soccer governing body's obligation to pay the Frenchman, who at the time was president of the sport's European governing body UEFA.
"They falsely claimed that FIFA owed Platini, or that Platini was entitled to, the sum of 2 million Swiss francs for consultancy work. This fraud was achieved through repeated false claims made by both accused parties," the indictment states.
The case destroyed Platini's hopes of eventually succeeding Blatter, who resigned from FIFA in 2015 following a separate corruption scandal.
Blatter and Platini were suspended from football in 2015 by FIFA for ethics violations, initially for eight years, although their bans were later reduced.
Blatter, who was FIFA president for 17 years until 2015,.
KosovaPress
