Sepp Blatter and UEFA President Platini to be indicted by Swiss Authorities

Sepp Blatter has criminal proceeding initiated against him and Michel Platini has been indicted too

Prosecutors from Switzerland have initiated criminal proceedings against former FIFA President Sepp Blatter on suspicion of misappropriation of funds and violation of his duties during his term as the head of football’s governing body. Sepp Blatter was forced to step down from his role as the FIFA chief after the FBI arrested nine FIFA officials from various countries on charges of corruption in May this year.

The statement from Switzerland’s Attorney General’s office further went on to add that there was suspicion about Blatter’s role in the Caribbean Football Union, "There is as suspicion that Joseph Blatter also violated his fiduciary duties to FIFA in connection with a contract with the Caribbean Football Union,” reported Jamaica Observer

Swiss investigators also named Michel Platini as alleged recipient of disloyal payments from the then FIFA President Sepp Blatter, The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland opened criminal proceedings against Blatter, 79, and detailed a transaction that also implicated Platini in a statement.

It is suspected that Blatter made a "disloyal payment" of two million Swiss francs (just over $2 million) to Platini at FIFA's expense in February 2011. Platini is a member of the FIFA executive committee and recently announced his intention to replace Blatter as president in the next election, which is set for Feb 26.

US and Swiss authorities announced in May this year that they were investigating corruption at the highest levels of the world's most popular sport which included the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World cups to Russia and Qatar.

Fourteen soccer officials and sports marketing executives were indicted then, till Friday this week the authorities had not pointed the finger at Blatter who has run FIFA since 1998.

FIFA issued a statement on Friday that criminal proceeding had been initiated against Sepp Blatter and that FIFA was giving its full cooperation, “Since 27 May 2015, FIFA has been cooperating with the Office of the Swiss Attorney General (OAG) and has complied with all requests for documents, data, and other information. We will continue this level of cooperation throughout the investigation.”

Today, at the Home of FIFA, representatives from the Office of the Swiss Attorney General conducted interviews and gathered documents pursuant to its investigation. FIFA facilitated these interviews as part of our ongoing cooperation.