Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and ex-UEFA president Michel Platini have been indicted over unlawfully arranging a payment of US$2.19 million (NZ$3.08m).
Swiss prosecutors have been probing Blatter, 85, over accusations he arranged the payment from world soccer's governing body FIFA to Platini in February 2011.
The Swiss investigation was opened in 2015, amid the series of scandals that engulfed FIFA. The affair led to a FIFA ethics investigation that saw both men banned from the game and forced to leave their positions.
The OAG accused Blatter and Platini of "fraud, in the alternative of misappropriation, in the further alternative of criminal mismanagement as well as of forgery of a document". Platini, who captained France to victory in the 1984 European Championship, was also charged as an accomplice.
In 2016, Blatter and Platini were both banned from soccer for six years over the payment, made with Blatter's approval for work done a decade earlier. Both had denied any wrongdoing.
"I look forward to the trial before the Federal Criminal Court with optimism, and I hope that this story will come to an end and that all the facts will be dealt with properly," Blatter says.
"It was based on an oral contract that regulated Platini's advisory activities for FIFA between 1998-2002," he adds.
Blatter says the payment was delayed, because FIFA was not able to pay the entire amount and Platini only made his claim for the money in 2010.
The former FIFA president says the payments had been approved by "all responsible FIFA bodies" and that Platini had paid tax on the amount "at his Swiss place of residence".
Platini did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but last month, Swiss lawyer Dominic Nellen said: "From the defense's point of view, it is clear that the investigation should have been discontinued long ago.
"There are enough witness reports and documents in the case files that prove my client's innocence. The defence has now requested various witnesses."
The OAG says its investigation reveals Platini worked as a consultant for then FIFA president Blatter between 1998-2002 and an annual compensation was agreed upon in a written contract.
The OAG says Platini invoiced the contract and was paid in full, but the 66-year-old former France international continued to demand payment.
Reuters.
