The president of the International Football Federation (FIFA), Gianni Infantino, crosses a zone of turbulence. In May, the boss of world football was the subject of a criminal complaint, filed by an anonymous person; then he was the subject of a criminal information transmitted by the Swiss lawyer Philippe Renz to the Bern prosecutor's office.
The complainants justify these two steps by the informal meetings (without minutes to the key), in 2016 and 2017, that Gianni Infantino made with the Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber. He is the subject of a dismissal procedure initiated on May 20 by the judicial commission of the Swiss Federal Assembly.
This time, it is a magistrate friend of Mr. Infantino, the first prosecutor of Haut-Valais Rinaldo Arnold, who is the subject of a criminal information, as reported by the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. Gilbert Truffer, Member of the Canton of Valais, confirms to Monde "to have laid a criminal information against the Attorney General of Haut-Valais, Rinaldo Arnold".
"Incitement to violate professional secrecy"
Truffer is elected in Visp, the birthplace of… ex-FIFA president (1998-2015) Sepp Blatter, himself in legal dispute with his successor. The member indicates that "The object" of this "Criminal information", filed with "Bernese authorities", is there"Incitement to breach professional secrecy". When contacted, the Berne public prosecutor's office confirmed that it had received the criminal denunciation and had forwarded it to the services of the Swiss Federal Assembly.
"Mr. Arnold, at the request of his friend Infantino, organized the various meetings (in March 2016 and June 2017) with federal prosecutor Lauber. He prompted Michael Lauber to break official secrecy. It is a punishable offense ", details Mr. Truffer. Contacted about this criminal information, Mr. Arnold has not yet acted on it.
In March, according to information from World, a report by the Supervisory Authority of the Swiss Prosecutor's Office (AS-MPC) estimated that Mr. Arnold had sought, on behalf of Mr. Infantino, in July 2015, to glean from the prosecutor Lauber judicial information concerning MM. Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, then president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).
The latter was preparing to seek the presidency of FIFA before being suspended by the FIFA ethics committee in autumn 2015 for an allegedly “unfair” payment of 2 million Swiss francs (1.8 million euros) that Mr. Blatter would have paid him in 2011.
You have 53.97% of this article left to read. The suite is reserved for subscribers.
