“It’s a day celebrated and a total success,” said Michel Platini’s lawyer after his acquittal

After more than six years of investigation and two weeks of trial for fraud in Switzerland, Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter were acquitted on Friday July 8. Maître Dominic Nellen, Michel Platini’s lawyer, declares that “The court has made it very clear that there is an acquittal and that is the only solution in this case. A seven-year criminal case comes to an end today and it is a day of celebration.”

Faced with the risk of an appeal, Me Dominic Nellen is not worried. “It’s either up to the confederation’s public prosecutor’s office or to Fifa to decide whether they want to appeal. The president of the court agreed with all the elements of the defense so I don’t see how we could appeal. with a chance of success”says the lawyer.

Michel Platini saw this affair as a “conspiracy”, intended to oust him from the presidency of Fifa, in favor of Gianni Infantino. In November 2021, the triple Ballon d’Or filed a complaint in Paris against Infantino for “active influence peddling”. Me Dominic Nellen explains that it is now necessary “meeting, discussing the legal possibilities and it should be mentioned that in Switzerland there are several criminal proceedings against people from the public prosecutor’s office and from Fifa which are in progress and whose result must also be awaited.”

On the merits of this file, the work of Michel Platini was therefore real in the eyes of the Swiss justice system, but this case may have shocked part of the opinion because of the sum involved. “Today, the president of the court said very clearly that Mr. Platini worked at the time, that he had a valid oral contract for the sum of one million Swiss francs per year and that Michel Platini had the entitled to claim this salary in the year 2011. So it is a total success, no matter the sum, which can be perceived as high, but we must also see the value that Michel Platini brought to Fifa and world football “justifies Me Dominic Nellen.