Sepp Blatter has said that the £1.35m payment to Michel Platini that has led to criminal proceedings and both men being suspended by Fifa was based on a “gentleman’s agreement”, confirming the Guardian’s report on Sunday that there was no written contract documenting the money being owed to Platini.
Blatter was speaking for the first time about the nature of the transaction since being suspended from his job as Fifa president for 90 days pending the outcome of the full ethics committee investigation.
In an interview with the Swiss broadcaster RROTV Blatter said of the payment to Platini, 2m Swiss francs (£1.35m), which he authorised in February 2011, that it “was a contract I had with Platini, a gentleman’s agreement and that went through”.
Platini has said the money was unpaid additional salary from his job as Blatter’s adviser between 1998 and 2002 and that Blatter told him Fifa could not afford to pay it at the time due to the organisation’s financial position.
Platini said in his initial public statement that the money was owed according to “a contract” he had with Fifa at the time.
The Swiss attorney general, Michael Lauber, announcing criminal proceedings against Blatter last month, said the payment is suspected of having been “disloyal” to Fifa – a breach of Blatter’s position of trust as president – potentially amounting to “criminal mismanagement” or “misappropriation”.
Platini, Lauber said, was interviewed as a “person asked to provide information” - not as a witness, as Uefa said in its initial response. Fifa’s ethics committee is investigating whether the payment breaches rules, including constituting a conflict of interest, and whether it could amount to corruption. Both Platini and Blatter deny any wrongdoing.
