Secret meetings
Case against FIFA President Infantino dropped
A criminal case against Gianni Infantino has been dropped. photo
© Ding Ting/Xinhua/dpa
Gianni Infantino speaks of a “clear victory”. In Switzerland, a case against the powerful FIFA boss has been dropped. Among other things, it was about incitement to abuse of office.
There are criminal proceedings against him in Switzerland FIFA President Gianni Infantino and other accused persons have been hired. This was announced by two extraordinary federal prosecutors who were in charge of the investigation.
It was about secret meetings between 2015 and 2017 between Infantino and the then Swiss Federal Prosecutor Michael Lauber and another public prosecutor. Both people were also investigated. It was investigated whether Infantino was trying to influence other criminal and legal assistance proceedings related to FIFA. However, the accused public prosecutors have to bear a small part of the costs of the proceedings because they did not record the meetings at the time.
“It is now clear to everyone that the accusations against me were just desperate attempts by poor, jealous and corrupt people to attack my reputation,” the 53-year-old Swiss Infantino was quoted as saying in a FIFA statement: “If these people even… If they had any small bit of dignity, they should at least have the decency to apologize for their actions and the harm caused.”
The investigation was led by extraordinary federal prosecutors Ulrich Weder and Hans Maurer. They announced that they had examined four different meetings “for their criminal relevance.” According to her account, the first meeting took place because a senior public prosecutor from the canton of Valais, who was friends with Infantino, was interested in a position with Lauber. At the other three meetings there were only general statements “on the cooperation and position of FIFA as a party in the world football procedural complex. “In particular, there were no references to appointments, agreements, decisions, etc., which relate to criminal procedural acts or omissions in the entire procedural complex ‘World football’ affected or should have an impact,” said Weder and Maurer.
“This is a complete, clear and clear victory for me, for the new FIFA and for justice!” Infantino was quoted as saying. “The full investigation clearly confirms that I have always acted lawfully and correctly and have only defended the interests of FIFA and football.”