Ex-FIFA president Sepp Blatter vows to continue fighting fraud allegations
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter says he will continue
fighting fraud allegations, and does not fear his case possibly going to trial,
he told a Swiss weekly in an interview to be published Sunday.
Former world football chief Blatter, 85, faced four days of
questioning by a federal prosecutor earlier this month in a long-running probe
into a suspected fraudulent payment a decade ago.
In the case that shook world sport, Blatter is being
investigated over a two million Swiss franc ($2.2 million, 1.85 million euro)
payment to Michel Platini in 2011, who was then in charge of European
football's governing body UEFA.
Blatter was forced to stand down as FIFA president in 2015
and was banned by FIFA for eight years, later reduced to six, over ethics
breaches for authorising what prosecutors termed a "disloyal
payment".
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) of Switzerland,
which has said Blatter faces "suspicion of fraud, breach of trust and
unfaithful business management," has yet to announce whether it will
indict him or dismiss the case.
Blatter, who has always maintained the payment to Platini
was above board, told the Le Matin Dimanche weekly he was not worried.
"I am not afraid of a trial," he said in the
interview, due to be published Sunday, adding that he had heard from a number
of lawyers that the case against him was not credible.
In a statement issued before the hearing with the prosecutor
began earlier this month, Blatter reiterated that the payment had been
"based on an oral contract that regulated Platini's advisory activities
for FIFA between 1998 and 2002."
"The payment was delayed because FIFA was initially
unable to pay out the entire amount -- and Platini only made the claim in
2010."
Blatter, who spent two months in hospital in December and
January after undergoing heart surgery, acknowledged though that he remained
weak and could not undertake a trial immediately.
"Physically, I am not yet ready," he told Le Matin
Dimanche.
He said doctors had written him off twice while in hospital,
saying there was nothing more they could do for him, but he held on.
"Now I want to continue fighting."
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