Gianni Infantino has just conceded a new legal defeat. Targeted by criminal proceedings in Switzerland since July 2020, the president of the International Football Federation (FIFA) will not have access to the criminal file before his hearing by the Swiss extraordinary prosecutor, Stefan Keller.
In a judgment issued in early March, the Swiss Federal Criminal Court (TPF) rejected the appeal filed by Mr. Infantino as part of the investigation that targets him for the three secret meetings (without supporting minutes) that ‘he had, in 2016 and 2017, with the former Swiss prosecutor Michael Lauber, in charge of criminal proceedings against FIFA between 2015 and 2019.
The latter as well as a magistrate friend of Mr. Infantino, Rinaldo Arnold, the prosecutor of Haut-Valais, are also in the sights of the Swiss justice for these informal meetings.
In a press release published Monday, March 8, Stefan Keller recalls that Mr. Infantino had filed an appeal with the TPF “In order to have access to the transcripts of the hearings” in the context of the proceedings against him. Mr. Keller had rejected this request “On the grounds that the defendant Infantino should not have access to the file before being himself questioned”, as specified in the Swiss Code of Criminal Procedure. The TPF did not support the FIFA president on this point.
To date, Mr. Infantino has not been auditioned
“The TPF did not enter into the matter on the other demands of the president
FIFA, explains Mr. Keller in his press release. Among other things, Infantino demanded that Stefan Keller reveal what evidence he had already gathered and what evidence he still planned to collect. Infantino also wanted the taking of evidence to be repeated, and for his right to participate in the proceedings to be recognized. It was refused to him. “ In October 2020, Mr. Keller had excluded FIFA as ” part ” of the procedure.
To date, no hearing of MM. Infantino and Lauber was not scheduled. “According to Mr. Keller’s press release, the FIFA president does not have access to the file until he has been questioned himself, reacted FIFA. So it looks like we’ll have to wait for that to happen. Although Mr Keller has already had nearly nine months to ask to question the FIFA president and / or inform him of what this so-called “special investigation” means, he has yet to do so. FIFA assumes that maybe he will someday. ”
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