It is a hearing which should revive the latent conflict between the president of the International Federation of Football (FIFA), Gianni Infantino, and his predecessor Sepp Blatter (1998-2015), 84 years old. Wednesday, December 9, the former boss of the world body is to be heard in Sarnen (Switzerland), as “person called to give information” (witness assisted) by the Swiss extraordinary prosecutor Stefan Keller.
This meeting is part of the criminal proceedings conducted since July 30 by Mr. Keller against Mr. Infantino, the magistrate Rinaldo Arnold – his childhood friend – and the former Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber.
The investigation is aimed at the three secret meetings (without supporting minutes) that the President of FIFA 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.
” I will answer the questions of Mr. Keller and the parties concerning the three protagonists who are in the crosshairs of Swiss justice and will give my version authentically », Tells the World Sepp Blatter. The latter will be accompanied at this hearing by Mr.e Matthias Kuster. He will therefore not be assisted by his usual lawyer, Mr.e Lorenz Erni, himself advising Mr Lauber in connection with these proceedings.
For their part, lawyers for Mr. Infantino and FIFA – which declined to comment – called on Mr. Keller regarding this hearing. The defenders of the president of the Federation do not understand why Mr. Blatter is being heard in this case which, according to them, does not concern him. They believe that Mr. Keller is overstepping his skills and going beyond his field of investigation. No hearing date for MM. Infantino and Lauber has not been fixed to date.
Umpteenth pass of arms
The summons of Mr. Blatter is the umpteenth pass between the octogenarian, suspended until October 2021 by the FIFA ethics committee, and his successor, elected in 2016. The rag has been burning between the two men since that FIFA, via the American law firm Quinn Emanuel, accused, in June 2016, Mr. Blatter and his two lieutenants of having shared 80 million dollars (72 million euros), from 2011 to 2015, “Through increases in their annual salary, bonuses linked to World Cups and other benefits”. Since 2016, the FIFA ethics committee has been investigating these bonuses.
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