The Swiss prosecutor's office requested on Wednesday a one year and eight months suspended prison sentence against former footballer Michel Platini and former FIFA president Joseph Blatter, accusing them of defrauding the football body by obtaining an unjustified payment of 2 million Swiss francs (1.8 million euros) by the Frenchman.
The Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona (southeast Switzerland) will announce its decision on July 8 on this case, which ended the careers of both officials and theoretically exposes them to up to five years in prison.
Prosecutor Thomas Hildbrand did not request a firm prison sentence against the 66-year-old French player and the 86-year-old Swiss.
For more than four and a half hours, he dismantled the thesis of an "oral contract" closed between the two men for advisory work carried out by Platini between 1998 and 2002.
Blatter and Platini signed a written agreement in August 1999, stipulating an annual payment of 300,000 Swiss francs from FIFA. But they claimed to have agreed to an additional annual payment of 700,000 Swiss francs when the organization's finances allowed it.
June 22 - Key Date in FIFA Case
Platini, now president of UEFA, submitted an invoice of 2 million Swiss francs (1.8 million euros) in early 2011, signed by Sepp Blatter and presented to FIFA as outstanding salary.
To agree on these amounts without leaving a written trace, without witnesses, and without ever provisioning them in the accounts is "contrary to commercial practices" and FIFA's customs, insisted Thomas Hildbrand.
The trial, which began last Wednesday, will continue until June 22, with statements from FIFA -the civil party- and the defenses.