PLAT SHOCK
Michel Platini held in France over ‘corrupt bid’ for 2022 World Cup in Qatar
MICHEL PLATINI has been held by cops as part of an investigation into alleged corruption in the Qatar 2022 World Cup bidding process.
France legend Platini, 63, was detained at the offices of anti-corruption police in Nanterres, a suburb in Paris.
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The former Uefa president was picked up as part of an ongoing inquiry into alleged rigging of the vote which saw Qatar earn the rights to stage the 2022 World Cup.
And in news that will rock football in France Claude Gueant - a close adviser to former French president Nicolas Sarkosy - has been questioned as a "free suspect".
Platini served as Uefa president for eight years until 2015, when he was banned from football by the Fifa ethics committee.
The man regarded as one of the greatest players in world football during the 1980s had been found guilty of accepting a "disloyal payment" of £1.6million from then Fifa president Sepp Blatter.
The pair were banned from football until 2023, with the committee saying Platini "did not show commitment to an ethical attitude".
French financial investigators have for the past three years been probing claims of "private corruption", "criminal conspiracy" and "influence peddling and trading in influence" over the vote that took place in Zurich in 2010.
Platini has never denied he voted for Qatar - despite the recommendation of Fifa’s medical committee that it was too dangerous to play a summer World Cup in the desert heat.
INTERVIEWED
The former French captain and coach was interviewed by the authorities in December 2017.
Investigators have been concentrating on the lunch that took place at the Elysee Palace, the residence of the French President, on November 23 2010, just over a week before the crunch vote by Fifa’s executive committee under Blatter.
Platini was on the committee - in his role as Uefa President - although two of the 24 members were banned from voting because of other corruption scandals around cash for votes allegation.
Along with Platini and Sarkozy, other attendees were the current Emir of Qatar, Tamim Ben Hamad Al Thani, and the country’s then Prime Minister, Sheikh Hamad Ben Jassem, as well as Gueant and Sarkozy’s sports adviser Sophie Dion.
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Platini had originally announced his likely intention to vote for Qatar’s main rivals and the favourites to win the 2022 tournament, the USA.
But after a meeting with al Thani in Nyon the previous month, Platini claimed he had undergone a change of heart.
He explained later: "I knew I was going to vote for Qatar before lunch and I went to see Nicolas Sarkozy to tell him.
“I did not know that the Qataris would be there.
“While going to lunch, I assumed that President Sarkozy would have liked me to vote for Qatar. But he never asked me. I then called Sepp Blatter to tell him about this meeting. "
DISCUSSION
Just eight months after the Paris meeting and Fifa vote, Qatar’s owned QSI bought Sarkozy’s favourite team, Paris St Germain in a £60m deal.
But French officials are seeking to ascertain if there was also any discussion at the lunch of the planned launch of Qatar-owned TV channel BeIN Sports, part of the Al-Jazeera network, which is headed by PSG President Nasser Al-Khalaifi.
A statement issued on Platini's behalf said: "Michel Platini, after being heard in the same investigation in open court last year, is now questioned under the regime of custody for technical reasons.
"His counsel, Mr William Bourdon, strongly asserts that this is in no way an arrest, but a hearing as a witness in the context desired by the investigators, a framework that prevents all persons heard, then confronted, cannot confer outside the procedure.
"Michel Platini expresses himself serenely and precisely, answering all the questions, including those on the conditions for awarding Euro 2016, and has provided useful explanations.
"He has nothing to reproach himself with and claims to be totally foreign to facts that go beyond him."
The former France captain won the Ballon d'Or three times during a brilliant career which saw him lead the Juventus side for five years between 1982-87.
After his retirement he then became manager of the French national team after France failed to qualify for the 1990 World Cup, but left after a disappointing display at Euro 92.
That led to the former playmaker moving into football administration, and he played a key role in helping to organise the World Cup in France in 1998.
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His success and reputation led to him gaining increasing influence in the corridors of power within the international game.
Platini moved up the ranks at Uefa and in 2002 he took on a position within the Fifa executive committee.
The legendary figure continued to gain more supporters and in 2007 he became the most powerful man in European football when he was elected Uefa president.
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