Platini's Lawyer insists there is nothing secretive about the alleged FIFA "disloyal payment"

A lawyer for Michel Platini has insisted there was nothing

secretive about the alleged "disloyal payment" his client
received from Fifa that led to the suspension of the
Frenchman and Sepp Blatter.

Thibaud D'Ales, one of Platini's representatives, was
reacting to a report in French newspaper Journal du
Dimanche, who claim to have obtained a document showing
that the proposed 'salary' was mentioned in a 1998 Uefa
executive committee report.

According to the document, Blatter "already announced that
Platini would become the future sporting director of Fifa.

Platini would therefore become part of Fifa".

It adds that "there has been talk about one million Swiss
francs as a salary".

D'Ales told Journal du Dimanche: "This document
demonstrates, contrary to everything the accusations are
based upon, that nothing was occult (hidden) in Michel
Platini's contract with Fifa, and that many people in Uefa
and Fifa were aware of it in 1998."

D'Ales added that the accusations against his client were
"unfounded" and insisted that Platini would clear his name.

Platini and Blatter have been handed 90-day provisional
bans from all football activities while the transaction is
subject to a criminal investigation by the Swiss attorney
general.

The duo are due to attend personal hearings with Fifa's
ethics judge from December 16 in relation to the payment of
two million Swiss francs received by Platini for work he
claims to have carried out for Fifa between 1999 and 2002.

Platini was the favourite to be elected as Blatter's successor
as Fifa president in February next year but he is currently
unable to campaign under the terms of his suspension,
which he has appealed at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, Prince Ali bin Al
Hussein, Jerome Champagne, Tokyo Sexwale and Gianni
Infantino are the five confirmed candidates to replace
Blatter.