At 84, Sepp Blatter wins a second legal victory. Already partially “cleared” in May by the public prosecutor of the Swiss Confederation (MPC) as part of the criminal proceedings against him since September 2015 for ” suspicion of unfair management and breach of trust “, The former Swiss president of the International Football Federation (FIFA) learned that another part of the investigation would be closed by the federal prosecutor Thomas Hildbrand.
According to information from World, this part of the procedure concerns a private jet flight carried out in 2007 by Jack Warner, the former president of the Football Confederation of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (Concacaf), indicted for corruption by American justice. A journey that FIFA had taken in charge for an amount of 365,000 dollars (309,000 euros). On July 30, Mr. Blatter was heard in Bern, at the headquarters of the MPC, about this case.
This “notice of next closing” was notified to the parties by Mr. Hildbrand. Contacted, the MPC confirms having informed the parties, in November, “That he considered another aspect of the procedure [paiement d’une dette de tiers en lien avec un voyage] as finished and that he intended to classify it ”. Mr Blatter’s lawyer, Me Lorenz Erni, did not respond to our requests.
An appeal filed by FIFA
In May, the MPC had “ extended criminal proceedings other partial facts and allegations. “The Swiss prosecution is particularly interested in a” million dollar unsecured loan ” (888 380 euros) paid from a FIFA account, on April 13, 2010, at the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation, then under the control of Jack Warner. The former FIFA chief financial officer, Markus Kattner, and the former secretary general of the body, Jérôme Valcke, are also targeted by this investigation for ” suspicion of unfair management. “
In May, prosecutor Hildbrand decided to drop part of the proceedings against Mr. Blatter. It concerned a controversial television contract – signed by the Swiss in 2005 with the Caribbean Football Union (UCF), then headed by Mr Warner.
The magistrate had closed this file, despite the ” official requests »Submitted by FIFA to the MPC for the investigation to continue. ” An appeal has been filed [par la FIFA] against this classification order and it is now up to the complaints court of the Federal Criminal Court to rule on this subject ”, specifies the MPC.
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