Former Fifa president Sepp Blatter and ex-Uefa chief Michel Platini were on Tuesday acquitted by a Swiss court in a long-running corruption case that shattered their careers as two of the most powerful figures in world football.
Blatter, 89, and Platini, 69, listened in silence as the Extraordinary Court of Appeal clerk in Muttenz read out a decision identical to the one handed down in 2022, which had initially cleared them.
Prosectors had requested suspended sentences of 20 months for the pair, but charges of fraud, for which they risked five years' imprisonment, as well as disloyal management, breach of trust and forgery of documents were all dismissed.
After almost 10 years of legal proceedings, a final appeal is still possible before the Swiss Federal Court, but only on limited legal grounds.
“The relentless pursuit from Fifa and some Swiss federal prosecutors is now over,” Platini told reporters. “Today my honour is restored, and I'm very happy.”
Platini, a former France captain and manager, said he felt “from the start” that the purpose of the affair was to prevent him “from being president of Fifa”.
“I know that for my enemies, it was time that was important … They kept me out for 10 years,” continued Platini, whose downfall cleared the way for the election of Gianni Infantino in early 2016 as Fifa president.
Blatter and Platini returned to court earlier this month on charges stemming from a delayed payment of two million Swiss francs ($2.06 million) Fifa made to Platini in 2011 for consultancy services.
“After two acquittals, the federal prosecutor's office must also admit that this criminal procedure has definitively failed. Michel Platini must finally be left alone in criminal matters,” said Dominic Nellen, Platini's lawyer.
The case began in 2015 when Blatter quit as head of Fifa in a corruption crisis.
Blatter and Platini were initially acquitted by the Swiss Federal Court in June 2022, but the Swiss Attorney General's office immediately appealed that verdict.
The defence and prosecution agreed that Platini did advise Blatter between 1998 and 2002, during the Swiss administrator's first term at the head of Fifa, and that in 1999 the two men signed a contract agreeing an annual remuneration of 300,000 Swiss francs, to be “paid in full by Fifa”.
Blatter and Platini said that at the start they agreed orally, and without witnesses, on an annual salary of one million Swiss francs, but Fifa's financial state did not allow for immediate payment. Blatter called it a “gentlemen's agreement”.
Prosecutor Thomas Hildbrand said the argument was implausible. Even if Fifa had transferred one million Swiss francs to Platini in 1999, it would still have had “more than 21 million francs in cash”, and its reserves had reached 328 million in 2002.
To agree such a sum without a written record, without witnesses and without ever making provision for it in the accounts was, he said, “contrary to commercial practice” as well as to Fifa's norms.
In January 2011, “more than eight years after the end of his activity as advisor”, Platini “claimed a debt of two million Swiss francs”, which Fifa paid.
Prosecutors argued that this was an “unfounded” payment, obtained by “cleverly misleading” Fifa's internal controls through false statements made by the two executives.
At the time, Blatter was running for re-election as Fifa president and Platini had become head of European football. Platini backed Blatter in his successful bid for a fourth term in charge of Fifa.
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Founder: Ayman Alashkar
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Sector: PropTech
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Funding stage: Seed funding, in talks with angel investors
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Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.
Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.
Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.
Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
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Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)
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Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)
Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)
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Dh3.7 million
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46
The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.
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50
How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday
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The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Director: Hansal Mehta
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Yemen's Bahais and the charges they often face
The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.
The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran.
Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf.
"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said.
Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer.
The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy.
