Michel Platini, UEFA president when the 2018 World Cup was awarded, would he have received a work by Pablo Picasso from a Russian oligarch in exchange for his vote for Russia? According to 2017 listens revealed by MediapartMonday, as part of the judicial inquiry opened by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) into the 2010 award of the 2018 and 2022 worlds, at the time of its presidency Platinum at UEFA, the French leader admitted in a conversation with his wife that he had received a “painting” from a certain “Ouchmanov”.
For Mediapart, it could be the oligarch Alicher Ousmanov, who is currently the target of European Union sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In the wake of these revelations, Platini’s entourage admitted that… World and to The team that in 2016, for his 61st birthday, the leader had been given a “lithograph” by Picasso, and not a painting, by Mr. Ousmanov. “And so after the vote to award the 2018 World Cup,” says Platoche’s entourage.
Contacted by Mediapart, Alicher Ousmanov denied. “He has never offered or offered any paintings, including Picasso’s, to Mr Platini, just as Mr Platini has not offered him anything. Mr. Usmanov’s love for art and sports has nothing to do with politics and intrigue. They just communicated with Mr. Platini in a friendly and warm way, as Mr. Platini was Mr. Ousmanov’s favorite player,” the Russian billionaire’s spokesman replied to our colleagues.
Platini strikes back (as he can)
On Tuesday, the former leader of the European Confederation counter-attacked another dossier, making public the filing of a complaint in Paris of … November 2021 against Gianni Infantino for “active influence” and against Marco Villiger, former FIFA legal director, for “aiding and abetting active influence”. The Paris Prosecutor’s Office registered this complaint on November 16, according to the receipt of which AFP received a copy, without knowing at this stage what action was being taken.
The ex-N.10 of the Blues has been directly against Infantino for several years and his entourage, whom he suspects ousted him from the FIFA presidency in 2015 by warning the Swiss prosecutor’s office about a suspicious payment of 2 million Swiss francs (1.8 million euros), which FIFA by order of its President Sepp Blatter for the attention of the French in 2011, without written justification.
In this case, Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter were indicted in Switzerland in November 2021 for various offenses, including fraud, and are facing trial. The two men maintain that it is a residual salary for work as a consultant from the 1999-2002 period.
