The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and its president, Gianni Infantino, have just suffered a legal defeat. On Tuesday January 12, the Swiss Federal Criminal Court (TPF) published on its site a judgment against Mr. Infantino, targeted by criminal proceedings since July 2020 because of his secret meetings (without supporting minutes) , in 2016 and 2017, with the former Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber.
In essence, in its judgment rendered on December 17, 2020, the TPF rejected the objections raised by the lawyers of the President of FIFA against the procedural acts carried out by the Swiss magistrate Stefan Keller, the extraordinary public prosecutor in charge of this criminal investigation which also targets Mr. Lauber and Rinaldo Arnold, prosecutor of Haut-Valais and friend of Mr. Infantino. This investigation was opened for “Incitement to abuse of authority”, “Violation of official secrecy” and “Obstruction of criminal proceedings”.
The TPF has confirmed the definitive exclusion of FIFA as part of the proceedings – its lawyers have not had access to the criminal file since a decision by Mr Keller on August 15, 2020. FIFA believed that it was “Directly affected in its rights” and demanded to consult the criminal file.
Rejection of a challenge
In September 2020, FIFA lodged an appeal against the magistrate before the TPF to challenge his jurisdiction and then requested his recusal. She put forward her “Bias” and considered that Mr. Keller had performed pleadings “Null and void” before his election by the Swiss Federal Assembly on September 23.
This request for disqualification from Mr. Keller was rejected by the TPF, as the extraordinary prosecutor himself had already announced in a press release on Tuesday morning. “The complainant is therefore not a party to the criminal proceedings against Lauber, Infantino and Arnold and has no right to lodge a request to recusation “, believes the TPF in its decision.
“It does not appear from the files that [Stefan] Keller had already taken investigative steps into the allegations made against [Michael] Lauber before his election to the post of extraordinary federal prosecutor ”, adds the TPF, qualifying certain objections of FIFA as “Totally irrelevant”.
The TPF “Also confirmed that the opening of criminal proceedings against FIFA President Gianni Infantino, (…) complies with the law “, Keller said in his press release.
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