Platini arrested in Sarkozy-Qatar football corruption scandal

This 29 March 2018 video says about itself:

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been ordered to stand trial for corruption and abuse of power.

He has faced multiple corruption investigations since leaving office six years ago and just last week, he was handed preliminary charges for taking millions of euros in illegal campaign financing from ex-Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

A court on Thursday sent Sarkozy to trial for a separate case, in which he is accused of colluding with a judge, while serving as president, to find out how far magistrates had got into another fraud investigation against him. Sarkozy and his lawyer allegedly promised the judge a lucrative position in Monaco in return for the information. The judge and the lawyer have also been ordered to stand trial.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

Platini arrested in investigation of 2022 World Cup football allocation

The French football legend Michel Platini, former president of the European football association UEFA, has been arrested in connection with an investigation into corruption around the allocation of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.

A spokesperson for the French National Prosecutor’s Office has confirmed the news to the NOS. The public prosecutor does not want to provide additional comments.

Interrogation in suburb of Paris

The 63-year-old Platini is currently being questioned at the office of the Anti-Corruption Unit of the Justice Department in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris.

“Not only he, by the way, but also a former top employee of former President Nicolas Sarkozy“, says correspondent Frank Renout.

“It is about the 2010 decision to allocate the World Cup to Qatar. Fraud is said to have been committed in that”, Renout continues.

“The authorities in France, the USA and Switzerland have been investigating this for years. The French specifically want to know what role Paris has played in it.”

Vote as a commodity?

Platini was previously accused of having used his vote as a commodity. France Football published about a lunch at the Elysée [presidential palace], about two weeks before the assignment. According to the magazine, this included at least Crown Prince Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani of Qatar (the current Emir), French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Platini.

Platini did not later deny to the NOS that the meeting had taken place, but he did deny that it had been arranged in advance. …

Qatari investment

After the World Cup was allocated, the Qatari government invested hundreds of millions in France. Paris Saint-Germain, Sarkozy‘s favorite club, was acquired for 76 million euros.

Platini had promised his vote for the 2022 World Cup to the North American Major League Soccer. In the end, however, he opted for Qatar, with which he played an important role in the assignment. …

Doubtful payment from Blatter

Platini was president of UEFA from 2007 to 2015 and vice-president of FIFA at the time of the World Cup allocation to Qatar. In 2015, he was suspended for eight years due to a payment of 1.8 million euros by FIFA chairman Sepp Blatter. That penalty was later reduced to four years.