The Swiss prosecutor’s office on Wednesday demanded a 20-month suspended jail sentence for Michel Platini and ex-president of FIFA Sepp Blatter, accusing them of defrauding football’s governing body.
Blatter and Platini are being tried over a two-million-Swiss-franc ($2 million) payment in 2011 to the former France captain, who by that time was in charge of European football’s governing body UEFA.
The prosecutor’s demand is more lenient than he could have asked for — a maximum of five years in prison if found guilty.
“Only their behaviour with regard to criminal law counts,” said prosecutor Thomas Hildbrand, leaving out any link to football politics.
The prosecution accuses Blatter of having signed off an invoice for two million Swiss francs presented to FIFA by Platini in 2011, almost nine years after the end of his work as Blatter’s adviser.