Suspended FIFA presidential hopeful Michel Platini: I'm bulletproof

Complaining that he is being "dragged through the mud" in the FIFA corruption investigation, Michel Platini believes he is "bulletproof" and has not lost support in his bid to replace Sepp Blatter as the head of world soccer's governing body.

ZURICH (AP) — Complaining that he is being "dragged through the mud" in the FIFA corruption investigation, Michel Platini believes he is "bulletproof" and has not lost support in his bid to replace Sepp Blatter as the head of world soccer's governing body.

The UEFA president, who has been suspended for 90 days along with Blatter, confirmed in an interview published Monday in the French daily Le Monde that he had no written contract for the $2 million payment he received from FIFA in 2011.

Risking further FIFA ethics sanctions by breaking confidentiality rules, Platini gave a detailed defense in the case that threatens to end his presidential hopes.

The extra pay for his job advising Blatter from 1998-2002 was "a thing between two men," Platini said, giving a new version of why FIFA could not pay him in full more than a decade ago.

Suspension could doom Michel Platini's FIFA presidential campaign

"I think it's shameful to be dragged through the mud," he said, insisting the case was not a scandal.

Platini submitted his FIFA election application papers before being suspended and hopes that his provisional suspension will be lifted—by the FIFA appeal committee or Court of Arbitration for Sport—to allow him to run.

Platini must still pass an integrity check by FIFA's election committee, which will scrutinize all applicants after the deadline closes next Monday.

"I don't think I've lost many votes and those who know me know I can look myself in the mirror," Platini told Le Monde. "I'm bulletproof."

On Friday, Blatter told a Swiss broadcaster the payment deal being investigated by Swiss prosecutors as a "disloyal payment" from FIFA funds was a "gentlemen's agreement."

Platini and Blatter are appealing against the suspensions imposed this month by the FIFA ethics committee while it investigates the case.

The ethics panel has in recent cases imposed strict bans when soccer officials discussed their cases in the media.

"What annoys me most is to have been lumped in with the others," said Platini, who joins a long list of past and current colleagues on the FIFA executive committee who have been implicated in corruption allegations.

Platini told Le Monde that Blatter, newly elected as FIFA's president in 1998, asked him to name his salary to work as a personal adviser.

"'How much to you want?' Blatter asks," Platini told Le Monde. "I reply: 'One million.' 'Of what?' 'Whatever you want, rubles, pounds, dollars.' There was still no euro then. He replies, 'Agreed. One million Swiss francs per year.'"

The former France great has previously said FIFA did not pay him in full at the time because of the governing body's financial problems.

Platini told Le Monde that Blatter suggested that FIFA's salary policy prevented him from having a contract that paid the Frenchman more than then secretary general Michel Zen-Ruffinen.

• MORE: England FA withdraws support for Platini

"I worked for several months without pay," Platini said. "After a while, I go see Blatter: 'You have a problem paying me?' He says: 'Yes, I can't pay you 1 million because of the wage structure. You must understand that the secretary general gets 300,000 Swiss francs. You can't get more than three times his salary. So we'll write you a contract for 300,000 Swiss francs and pay the rest later.' And that's what happened. Only later never arrived."

Platini said he invoiced FIFA for 2 million Swiss francs in 2011 because he mistakenly recalled that he had been paid 500,000 Swiss francs annually at the time, and not 300,000.

FIFA paid Platini in February 2011, weeks ahead of a presidential contest between Blatter and Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar, who both sought Platini's endorsement.

GALLERY: Faces of the FIFA scandal

Faces of the FIFA Scandal

Sepp Blatter

FIFA president

Jerome Valcke

FIFA general secretary

Michel Platini

UEFA president; FIFA Vice President; FIFA presidential hopeful

Jack Warner

Ex–CONCACAF president; FIFA Vice President

Jeffrey Webb

Ex–Cayman Islands federation and CONCACAF president; FIFA Vice President

Chuck Blazer

Ex-CONCACAF general secretary; FIFA executive committee

Alfredo Hawit

CONCACAF President; FIFA vice president, executive committee; Former president, Honduras football federation

Juan Angel Napout

CONMEBOL president, FIFA vice president, executive committee; Former president, Paraguay football federation

Jose Luis Meiszner

CONMEBOL general secretary

Marco Polo del Nero

Former FIFA executive committee; President, Brazil football federation

Ricardo Teixeira

Former FIFA executive committee; Former president, Brazil football federation

Eduardo Li

Ex–Costa Rica federation president; FIFA, CONCACAF executive committees

Eugenio Figueredo

Ex–Uruguay federation and CONMEBOL president; FIFA Vice President

Jose Maria Marin

Ex–Brazil federation president; CONMEBOL executive committee

Rafael Salguero

Former FIFA executive committee; Former president, Guatemalan football federation

Manuel Burga

FIFA development committee; Former president, Peru football federation

Ariel Alvarado

Former president, Panama football federation; FIFA disciplinary committee

Eduardo Deluca

Former CONMEBOL, Argentina football federation general secretary

Luís Chiriboga

CONMEBOL executive committee; President, Ecuador football federation

Rafael Callejas

FIFA television and marketing committee; Former president, Honduras; Former president, Honduras football federation

Rafael Esquivel

Ex–Venezuela federation president; CONMEBOL executive committee

Carlos Chavez

CONMEBOL treasurer; Former president, Bolivia football federation

Nicolas Leoz

Ex–CONMEBOL president, FIFA executive committee

Julio Rocha

Ex–Nicaragua federation and Central American Football Union president

Romer Osuna

FIFA audit and compliance committee; Former CONMEBOL treasurer.

Alejandro Burzaco

CEO of Torneos y Competencias

Aaron Davidson

President, Traffic Sports USA

Hugo Jinkis

President, Full Play Group

Mariano Jinkis

Vice President, Full Play Group

Loretta Lynch

U.S. Attorney General

Michael Lauber

Switzerland Attorney General