Former FIFA president Blatter and former UEFA president Platini have been charged by Swiss courts for alleged embezzlement of 2 million Swiss francs (about £1.6 million) of public funds, and they will be tried within months, Sky Sports reported.
Previously, a €1.6 million payment by Blatter and Platini was disputed, and Swiss prosecutors investigated it for 6 years. On Tuesday, local time, Swiss prosecutors issued a statement accusing the two.
The statement said the money damaged FIFA's assets and Platini was suspected of illegally amassing wealth. Blatter was charged with fraud, mismanagement, misappropriation of FIFA funds and forged documents; Platini was charged with fraud, embezzlement, forgery and accomplice to Blatter's mismanagement.
At the heart of the case was Platini's written request to FIFA in January 2011 for FIFA to pay him extra salary as adviser to the president from 1998 to 2002, when Blatter was president. Subsequently, Blatter himself agreed to the payment of the money. He was running for the next FIFA presidency at the time, and Platini's influence in Europe was one of the key factors in his campaign.
Prosecutors said the money was unfounded based on the evidence they gathered, but both Platini and Blatter denied wrongdoing, with both claiming they had reached a verbal agreement more than two decades ago on the money.
A spokesman for FIFA said they had taken note of the allegation and reiterated they had no written record of the 2 million Swiss franc (£1.6 million) deal. #国际足联 #
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![Contrary to the code of ethics, former FIFA president Blatter was "grounded" for another 6 years and 8 months[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)