The so-called "FIFAgate" series, this myriad of criminal investigations and politico-financial scandals linked to the International Football Federation (FIFA), is experiencing a new twist. Based on an internal email, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung ((SZ) accused, on Friday, May 22, the president of the organization, Gianni Infantino, of having lied in order to justify a private jet flight, in April 2017, between Suriname and Switzerland.
This trip – which costs an amount " six-digit ", according to SZ – has been validated by the supervisory authority responsible for monitoring FIFA's expenditure. It was carried out by the boss of world football and his main assistant, the Swedish Mattias Grafström, in a plane chartered by FIFA following the postponement of the commercial flight booked with the company KLM.
On 18 April 2017, the Slovenian Tomaz Vesel, head of the FIFA audit and compliance committee, obtains from Mr. Grafström the elements supposed to justify the charter of a private aircraft at the expense of the proceedings and the additional cost costs associated with such a trip. According to SZ, Grafström said Infantino was due to return to Switzerland due to a scheduled meeting on April 12 at 2 pm in Nyon with the president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Aleksander Ceferin. This meeting was followed by another meeting in Geneva.
However, on April 12, Mr. Ceferin was on an official trip to Armenia and could not be in Nyon, as evidenced by the UEFA and Armenian Football Federation websites. Contacted, UEFA did not wish to comment. The world had confirmation, by another channel, that it was impossible that such a meeting took place, that day, between Mr. Infantino and Mr. Ceferin, who left for Armenia on April 12 in the morning and returned the next day . When questioned, FIFA did not reply, only indicating that the " theft mentioned was in accordance with FIFA rules ”. The body comments:
"FIFA has put in place rules which establish the framework for the potential use of private flights by any FIFA official. The overall costs of these private flights have decreased considerably since the new management joined FIFA in 2016. Commercial flights (including low-cost ones) are the standard option and private flights are only used in case of need. "
Travel expenses of Russia and Qatar in 2016
This is not the only example of Mr. Infantino's preference for a private flight rather than a commercial flight. In May 2016, an internal memo, which The world consulted, pinned donations in kind which would have benefited the president of FIFA. This document notified that in April 2016 he had flown in a private jet, paid for by Russia and Qatar, and estimated " at least between 115,000 and 150,000 dollars (between around 107,000 and 139,000 euros) ".
FIFA code of ethics prohibits district employees from receiving gifts from "partners"
According to our information, Mr. Infantino had gone to Moscow on a plane chartered by the Russian government (the country was going to host the World Cup in 2018), then had joined Doha aboard an aircraft of the company Gazpromavia, subsidiary from the gas company Gazprom, sponsor of FIFA. FIFA's code of ethics prohibits employees of the body from receiving gifts from " partners ».
On April 22, 2016, Mr. Infantino had returned to Zurich, coming from Doha, in a jet supported by Qatar, host country of the World Cup in 2022. According to our information, he had chosen to take a private flight instead of the one booked by FIFA to arrive on time for an appointment with the Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber.
The latter is the subject of a dismissal procedure, opened Wednesday May 20 by the judicial commission of the Swiss Federal Assembly, because of his informal meetings with Mr. Infantino. On April 27, the Geneva Tribune had estimated that Mr. Infantino would have liked to " get rid of an investigation that threatened him personally By meeting Mr. Lauber in April 2016.
FIFA recalls that ethics committee says "Independent" had investigated these private jet trips before laundering Mr. Infantino in August 2016. Federation employees who had reported these facts to the ethics committee were sacked in spring 2016.
In September 2015, trips on private jets had partly caused the fall of Jérôme Valcke, FIFA general secretary during the reign of President Sepp Blatter (1998-2015). Laid off and suspended for ten years by the ethics committee, Mr. Valcke was charged by the proceedings " to have made four trips which were not in line with FIFA's travel policy, because the use of private jets did not meet security or cost reduction requirements and because he was accompanied by members of his family at the expense of FIFA ”.
In 2018, Mr. Valcke told the World what is " flights represented a minor portion of private flights within FIFA and the journeys have been validated by the body. "
