Swiss appeals court acquits Blatter and Platini in graft case

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and ex-UEFA chief Michel Platini on Tuesday were acquitted again on appeal by a Swiss court in a long-running corruption case.

As in the first instance, when the pair were acquitted in 2022, the extraordinary appeals court in Muttenz near Basel did not follow the recommendations of prosecutors who had requested suspended sentences of 20 months.

After almost 10 years of proceedings, a final appeal is still possible before the Swiss Federal Court, but only on limited legal grounds.

Blatter, 89, and Platini, 69, again appeared in court on charges stemming from a delayed payment of two million Swiss francs (1.8 million euros) FIFA made to Platini in 2011 for consultancy services.

The legal saga shattered the careers of Blatter and former France captain and manager Platini, once among the most powerful figures in world football.

"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.

They were initially acquitted by the Swiss Federal Court in June 2022 of charges that included "disloyal management", "breach of trust" and "forgery of securities".

However, 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.

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.

At the time, Blatter was running for re-election as FIFA president and Platini had become head of European football.

Prosecutors argued that this was an "unfounded" payment, obtained by "cleverly misleading" FIFA's internal controls through false statements made by the two executives -- the key criterion in the fraud.