French authorities have seized documents from the country's football federation in connection with a Swiss probe into the suspect payment former FIFA president Sepp Blatter made to Michel Platini, officials said Wednesday.
The search was conducted Tuesday two days before Blatter's 80th birthday with Swiss officials present while French investigators searched the French Football Federation (FFF) headquarters in Paris.
The office of Switzerland's attorney general said the search was carried out "in connection with the criminal proceedings against Mr. Joseph Blatter", which were opened in September.
Switzerland suspects Blatter of "criminal mismanagement" while leading FIFA and authorising a 2011 payment to Platini the fallen head of European football that was "disloyal" to FIFA.
Documents in connection with that infamous 2.0 million Swiss franc ($2.0 million, 1.8 million euros) payment to Platini, a French national, "were seized" from the FFF offices, the Swiss statement said.
Blatter told AFP he was "very surprised" to learn of the search because he did not believe the FFF ever had documents related to the payment, which both Blatter and Platini claim was part of a legitimate oral contract.
Switzerland said it formally asked France for cooperation in the investigation on January 14.
In a separate statement, the French justice ministry confirmed the Tuesday search and said it "enabled the seizure of documents useful to the investigation" into the payment.
