Michel Platini released after being questioned over Qatar 2022, PSG and FIFA
Michel Platini was released by police after being questioned over the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.
The former France international, 63, was detained Tuesday in a western suburb of Paris as part of an investigation into alleged corruption.
He was subsequently released in the early hours of Wednesday, 12.30am local time.
A statement from Platini read: "It was long, but given the number of questions it could not be different.
"They asked me questions about the 2016 Euro, the World Cup in Russia, the World Cup in Qatar, Paris Saint-Germain, FIFA."
He later added: “It hurts for everything I can think of [and] everything I’ve done.
“But after all, they did their job and then we tried to answer all the questions.”
The French authorities also questioned Sophie Dion, a former adviser of ex-French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and Claude Gueant, Sarkozy’s ex-chief of staff.
Platini, who was UEFA president between 2007 and 2015, was taken to the Anti-Corruption Office of the Judicial Police in Nanterre.
A statement issued by his lawyer read: “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, can not confer outside the procedure.
“Michel Platini expressed himself serenely and precisely, answering all the questions, including those on the conditions for the awarding of Euro 2016, and has provided useful explanations.
“He has nothing to do to with this event which doesn’t concern him at all and is totally foreign to facts that go beyond him.
“He is absolutely confident about what’s next.”
Both former FIFA vice-president Platini and former president Sepp Blatter were arrested in 2015, as part of an investigation into corruption.
They were both cleared of corruption charges at the time but subsequently found guilty of other breaches - including a £1.35million ‘disloyal payment’ from Blatter to Platini in 2011.
Platini was banned from football for eight years over those ethic breaches, reduced to four following an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The ban expires this October and both Blatter and the three-time Ballon d’Or winner have persistently denied any wrongdoing.
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