Platini held in Qatar World Cup probe

EX-UEFA BOSS GRILLED IN CONNECTION WITH CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION

Former Uefa chief Michel Platini was taken into custody for questioning yesterday over the 2022 World Cup being awarded to Qatar.

The 63-year-old France footballing legend was quizzed by police in connection with a criminal investigation into alleged corruption in the 2010 vote to award the world’s biggest sporting competition to Qatar.

Platini, who was taken into custody by anti-corruption police in Paris, denied any wrongdoing. Qatar was accused of buying votes in its bid to stage the World Cup and a subsequent report by US independent investigator Michael Garcia unearthed an array of suspect financial dealings.

In 2016, France began investigations into ‘allegations of corruption, conspiracy and influence peddling’ surrounding the vote. The probe is now focused on a meeting involving Platini and former president Nicolas Sarkozy.

According to France Football magazine, a “secret meeting” took place on November 23, 2010, in Paris between Sarkozy, Shaikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, who was Qatar’s crown

prince and is now the emir, and Platini, who at that time was Uefa president and vice-president of Fifa. Just over a week later, Fifa voted in favour of Qatar.

Platini denies he was influenced by Sarkozy, whose adviser for sport, Sophie Dion, was also held for questioning.

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.”

Disgraced former Fifa president Sepp Blatter says he always insisted that the meeting swayed the vote. In Blatter’s version, Platini and three other European voters switched their planned American support.