Former Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, arrives at the building of the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland with his lawyer Lorenz Erni. AFP
Former Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, arrives at the building of the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland with his lawyer Lorenz Erni. AFP
Blatter and his lawyer Lorenz Erni arrive in front of the building. EPA
Blatter and his lawyer Lorenz Erni arrive in front of the building. EPA
Former Fifa president Sepp Blatter arrives in front of the building of the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland, in Bern, Switzerland. EPA
Former Fifa president Sepp Blatter arrives in front of the building of the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland, in Bern, Switzerland. EPA
Sepp Blatter faces interrogation from the Swiss public prosecutor as part of the proceedings opened in 2015 over a payment of 2 million Swiss francs to former Uefa president Michel Platini. EPA
Sepp Blatter faces interrogation from the Swiss public prosecutor as part of the proceedings opened in 2015 over a payment of 2 million Swiss francs to former Uefa president Michel Platini. EPA
Blatter looks on as he arrives at the building of the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland. AFP
Blatter looks on as he arrives at the building of the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland. AFP
The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland. AFP
The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland. AFP

Football

Sepp Blatter's turn to face Swiss prosecutor over Michel Platini payment

Former Fifa president, 84, arrived at the headquarters of the Public Ministry of the Confederation in Bern for questioning early Tuesday

The National

September 01, 2020

  • English
  • Arabic

Former Fifa president Sepp Blatter was questioned on Tuesday by a Swiss prosecutor over a payment of two million Swiss francs (Dh8.1 million) made to former Uefa boss Michel Platini in 2011.

Blatter, 84, arrived at the headquarters of the Public Ministry of the Confederation (MPC) in Bern for questioning early Tuesday by prosecutor Thomas Hildbrand. Platini, the former head of European football, had been questioned the day before.

The investigation, which was set up in 2015, is probing the payment Platini received from Fifa in 2011 for an advisory job completed in 2002, on suspicion of "complicity in unfair management, embezzlement and forgery".

Blatter said he was "happy" to be able to answer questions on the dossier.

Platini said in June that the Swiss Attorney General's office had "confirmed in writing in May 2018" that his case was closed but the 65-year-old French football great now has the status of "accused" alongside Blatter.

Blatter, who served as Fifa president from 1998 to 2015, has always maintained the payment was above board, describing it as "back pay" for work done by Michel Platini. "The sum was validated by the finance commission. It cannot be a criminal offence," Blatter said.

But Fifa, the world governing body, deemed the sum a "disloyal payment" and suspended Blatter and Platini from all football-related activities, which prevented the former Uefa chief from running for another term as president in 2016.

The payment was received just months after Qatar was awarded the World Cup 2022 amid allegations of bribery and corruption.

Two other former FIFA executives, Frenchman Jerome Valcke, the former secretary-general, and German Markus Kattner, the former financial director, are being investigated on "suspicion of unfair management", the OAG has said.

Kattner will be questioned on September 4.

If you go

The flights

Fly direct to London from the UAE with Etihad, Emirates, British Airways or Virgin Atlantic from about Dh2,500 return including taxes. 

The hotel

Rooms at the convenient and art-conscious Andaz London Liverpool Street cost from £167 (Dh800) per night including taxes.

The tour

The Shoreditch Street Art Tour costs from £15 (Dh73) per person for approximately three hours. 

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg

Tottenham 0-1 Ajax, Tuesday

Second leg

Ajax v Tottenham, Wednesday, May 8, 11pm

Game is on BeIN Sports

FifaSwitzerland