Michel Platini is being treated as “between a witness and an accused person” and the Swiss authorities would raid the UEFA president’s office if necessary to discover the “real truth,” the attorney general said on Tuesday.
Platini was questioned Friday about a 2011 payment from FIFA which led to a criminal case being opened against Blatter, who was quizzed as a suspect. Speaking at Zurich University, Swiss Attorney General Michael lauber wouldn’t be drawn about what might follow for Platini. Asked if he would be prepared to raid Platini’s UEFA office, lauber responded: “I will do anything, if I can do something, to clear up what’s the real truth and if I have enough elements to go there I could not exclude that I also have to go there.” Blatter was questioned about why FIFA paid 2 million Swiss francs (about $2 million) to Platini in 2011 for work to be carried out at least nine years earlier.
lauber said: “We did not (question) Mr. Platini as a witness ... we investigated against him as in between a witness and an accused person.
Meanwhile, Platini offered his first explanation on Tuesday.
“like I explained to the Swiss authorities, I received only part of the agreed salary between 1998 to 2002,” Platini said in comments provided by UEFA. “This occurred because at the time, FIFA informed me they would not be able to pay me the total agreed amount. Of course, all the moneys received at the time were declared to the pertinent authorities.”
“Mr. Blatter informed me when I started my role as his adviser (in 1998) that it was not initially possible to pay the totality of my salary because of FIFA’s financial situation at that time,” Platini said. “I never doubted, however, that the remaining amount owed to me would be paid eventually, so I did not actively pursue it. I even put the matter to the side for a while, before finally requesting that the outstanding balance was paid in 2011.”
friendly called off
Blatter and Platini will avoid coming face-to-face on Friday amid the football corruption scandal after a UEFA-FIFA match was called off. Blatter would usually travel to Platini’s UEFA headquarters in Nyon for the friendly. But FIFA informed: “In a joint decision it was agreed to postpone the UEFA-FIFA challenge 2015, which had been scheduled for Friday, 2 October, until further notice.”