Platini questioned in 2022 WC probe
The banned ex-UEFA chief Michel Platini was held for questioning Tuesday in connection with a criminal investigation into the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.
The French football legend who led European football’s governing body from 2007 to 2015 was taken into custody by French anti-corruption police investigating alleged corruption in the 2010 vote to award the competition to the gas-rich Gulf state.
Platini, 63, was in custody and questioned in Nanterre in the western Paris suburbs.
He denied wrongdoing and a statement from his representatives said the facts of the case were “unknown to him.”
The decision to name Qatar as 2022 World Cup hosts triggered allegations of corruption that ultimately sparked FIFA’s worst ever scandal.
Platini’s representatives said in a statement: “He has done absolutely nothing wrong and affirms that he is totally unrelated to the facts (of the case) which are unknown to him.”
Platini’s lawyer, William Bourdon, denied that the three-time Ballon d’Or winner had been placed under arrest by the police, as first reported, saying that he had been questioned “as a witness”.
Claude Gueant, Sarkozy’s erstwhile chief of staff and former interior minister, was also called in for questioning Tuesday by France’s Anti-Corruption Office of the Judicial Police.
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