FIFA To Take Legal Action In Recovery Of $2m From Platini – TheNigerialawyer

FIFA is to take legal action by the end of the year to force
Michel Platini to return two million Swiss francs ($2 million) he
received “illegally” during Sepp Blatter’s reign at world
football’s governing body, according to a document seen
Wednesday.

FIFA banned Platini, its then vice president, in 2015 over the
payment. It said in the document seen by AFP it would take action
“to recover the money illegally paid by the former President of
FIFA to the former Vice President of FIFA.”

The document explained that FIFA also planned to target Blatter
and that, under Swiss law, FIFA has until December 31 to file a
claim in court.

FIFA said it planned to sue Blatter at the same time and would
be seeking “interest at the appropriate rate” and “disciplinary
fines and costs… both ordered but not paid.”

Blatter authorised the payment in 2011. The Swiss authorities
started investigating in 2015.

FIFA’s ethics investigators branded the payment “disloyal” and
banned Platini for six years.

The Frenchman appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport
(CAS), which reduced his suspension to four years but said that it
“was not convinced by the legitimacy of the payment, which was only
recognised by Mr. Platini and Mr. Blatter.”

Platini has always maintained the money was a legitimate payment
and he did nothing wrong.

FIFA said in the document that the “undue payment…had no basis
in law, and that fact has been established in various courts and
tribunals up to the level of the Swiss Supreme Court.”

AFP