FIFA presidential hopeful and current UEFA president Michel Platini on Monday responded to speculation linking him to the FIFA scandal after it emerged Friday that soccer’s worldgoverning body had paid the Frenchman $2 million in 2011 for work completed nearly ten years earlier. Platini began his statement by pointing out that he has not been accused of any wrongdoing, beforeadding: “I wish to clarify that for the period 1998 to 2002 I was employed by FIFA to work on a wide range of matters relating to football. It was a full-time job, and my functions wereknown by all.” The former France and Juventus star noted that he had declared the payment to the Swiss authorities and said he would be happy to hand over any further information over toFIFA’s Ethics Committee.