Michel Platini and "disloyal payments". Every time I read about Fifa, Sepp Blatter and Platini, and that "disloyal payment" it is still in quotations. My earlier thoughts, therefore, have not changed that either whoever writes it in a report, story, etc. doesn't really know what it means, or the payment is surrounded by so much doubt that nobody can write "disloyal payment" with any certainty. Or, the third explanation is that there are many journalists out there who don't know the proper use of quotation marks.
My simple search for the meaning of the term gave me 2 answers.
According to Johnson (no first name given) in the Economist today, it is
a French term who's meaning has been lost in translation when used in
English; “paiement déloyal”, he writes does not have a legal equivalent
in English. "Illegal" is probably the best word to represent "deloyal".
This is taken a step further by a comment under the article: "Disloyal
payment: payment hurting the interests you are contractually obliged to
look after". Tom Peck in The Independent (UK) on September 25th explains
it as follows: "In the world of financial crime, which this is, it is a
payment made by an employee that is against the interest of the
employer." Therefore, Blatter, the employee, made that payment against
Fifa's best interests.
Where this leaves Platini, as the receiver, is still a little uncertain. However, two things work against him. He said that the payment was for work done for Fifa between 1999 and 2002 and he was only paid in 2011 because Fifa were struggling financially at the time. But it was easily established that Fifa was far from being in any financial trouble at the time. The payment was also made at the time of Fifa elections where Blatter won his fourth term. Platini was expected to run for President in 2011 but when Blatter decided to run for a fourth term, Platini did not run against him but endorsed him. And at the same time he recieved 2m Swiss Francs from Blatter. The story with Platini continues in relation to the controversial granting of the World Cup to Qatar in 2022. More to come.
But from now on, because I believe we have reached a pretty good understanding of the uncertain term, the quotation marks are going from the disloyal payment.
Where this leaves Platini, as the receiver, is still a little uncertain. However, two things work against him. He said that the payment was for work done for Fifa between 1999 and 2002 and he was only paid in 2011 because Fifa were struggling financially at the time. But it was easily established that Fifa was far from being in any financial trouble at the time. The payment was also made at the time of Fifa elections where Blatter won his fourth term. Platini was expected to run for President in 2011 but when Blatter decided to run for a fourth term, Platini did not run against him but endorsed him. And at the same time he recieved 2m Swiss Francs from Blatter. The story with Platini continues in relation to the controversial granting of the World Cup to Qatar in 2022. More to come.
But from now on, because I believe we have reached a pretty good understanding of the uncertain term, the quotation marks are going from the disloyal payment.
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