The Bellinzona federal criminal court is expected to hand down a sentence on July 8, at the end of a process in which the former leaders could be, in theory and for simple fraud, sentenced to up to five years in prison.
Lawyer Thomas Hildbrand He rejected the possibility of requesting effective imprisonment for Michel Platini, 66, and for Joseph Blatter, 86, but asked that the suspended sentence be accompanied by two years of probation.
The prosecution sought to annul the thesis of the existence of a verbal contract between Michel Platini and Joseph r, from a consultancy of the former, which led the former FIFA president to deliver two million Swiss francs (1.8 million euros) to the Frenchman.
There is a written agreement from August 1999 that provides for the delivery of 300,000 Swiss francs (287,000 euros) to Platini, but former leaders say they agreed to an additional 700,000 (669,000 euros) when FIFA’s finances allow it.
Platini, who would become president of UEFA in 2007, presented an invoice in early 2011, signed by Joseph Blatter, for an amount of 1.8 ME.
In the conclusions, the prosecutor Hildbrand clarified that although FIFA transferred one million Swiss francs to Platini in 1999, the argument of the agency’s lack of liquidity could not be validwhen FIFA’s financing exceeded 21 million (20 million euros) in 1999 and that reserves reached 327 million (313 ME) in 2001.
The trial, which began last Wednesday, will continue until June 22.in which defense arguments will continue to be presented.
Source: Observadora
