Due to Covid-19, the 70e Congress of the International Football Federation (FIFA) will be held by videoconference, Friday, September 18, in Zurich, at the seat of the body. Initially scheduled for June in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), this “virtual” conclave will give the Swiss-Italian president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, the opportunity to confirm to the 211 national federations that are members of the organization that he intends to invest the sum of 1.74 billion dollars (nearly 1.5 billion euros), by 2022, in the development of its sport across the globe.
But, as a preamble to his speech, will the boss of world football evoke the criminal proceedings opened against him in Switzerland on July 30? Or will he reserve this hot topic for the press conference scheduled at the end of the congress?
This criminal investigation targets the secret meetings (without supporting minutes), in 2016 and 2017, between Mr. Infantino and the former Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber. Chosen by the Swiss prosecution supervisory authority (AS-MPC) to determine whether the suspicions justified the opening of criminal proceedings against the two men and a magistrate friend of the FIFA president, the extraordinary prosecutor Stefan Keller concluded that there was ” elements of reprehensible behavior “.
According to him, “ the offenses concerned are abuse of authority, breach of official secrecy, obstruction of criminal proceedings and instigation of these offenses ”.
“ Our only concern is to be able to conduct an investigation in complete independence. “
After having ruled out resigning, Mr. Infantino was able to breathe internally: he was “cleared” on August 19 by the so-called “independent” ethics committee of FIFA. At the end of a preliminary investigation, the “tribunal” of the International Federation “ decided to close the case due to the obvious lack of prima facie evidence regarding any alleged violation of the FIFA Code of Ethics ”.
Since the opening of the criminal proceedings against Mr. Infantino, FIFA and its lawyers have engaged in a standoff with Mr. Keller, ensuring that “This investigation is not based on any factual or legal basis.” “We have not received any date for Mr. Infantino’s hearing, declares Me Jean-Pierre Méan, one of the FIFA counsels in this matter. We do not know the content of criminal complaints [contre M. Infantino]. There has been no progress. “
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