It is a hearing that should revive the latent conflict between the president of the International Football Federation (FIFA), Gianni Infantino, and his former boss at the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Michel Platini.
According to our information, the former number 10 of the Blues should be heard, Wednesday, March 17, in Sarnen (Switzerland), as “person called to give information” (assisted witness) by the Swiss extraordinary prosecutor Stefan Keller.
This meeting is part of the criminal proceedings conducted since July 30, 2020 by Mr. Keller against Mr. Infantino, the magistrate Rinaldo Arnold – childhood friend of the President of FIFA – and the former prosecutor Swiss General Michael Lauber, in charge of investigations in connection with the international federation from 2015 to 2019.
Mr. Keller’s investigation targets the three secret meetings (without supporting minutes) that the FIFA President and Mr. Lauber held, in 2016 and 2017, as well as a private jet flight carried out, on the funds of the Federation, by Mr. Infantino, in April 2017.
In December 2020, Mr. Keller had already questioned another great figure of world football as “person called to give information”: it was the ex-president of FIFA Sepp Blatter, also at open war with Mr. Infantino.
Four meetings at the center of the investigation
In the context of the procedure opened for “Abuse of authority”, “Violation of official secrecy”, “Obstruction of criminal proceedings” and “Instigation of these offenses”, Mr. Keller investigates more specifically four informal meetings, including the one held on July 8, 2015 by Michael Lauber, Rinaldo Arnold and the head of communication of the Swiss prosecution, André Marty.
In a disciplinary report published in March 2020, the Swiss prosecution supervisory authority (AS-MPC) estimated that “FIFA procedures [ouvertes en mai 2015 par le MPC] have been mentioned “ during this meeting.
The rapporteurs considered that Mr. Arnold “Is committed in favor of Mr. Infantino on a private basis” and estimated that Mr Infantino, who was, on that date, General Secretary of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), “Was then considering a candidacy for the presidency of FIFA and had an interest in finding out whether the FIFA proceedings were directed against two direct competitors for the presidency of FIFA and were not directed against him”.
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