In May, the International Football Federation (FIFA) called the first criminal complaint filed by an anonymous source against its president, Gianni Infantino, a farce. Two months later, the boss of world football is targeted in total by three complaints because of the informal meetings (without supporting minutes) he had, in 2016 and 2017, with the Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber , in charge of procedures related to FIFA corruption scandals since 2015.
According to information from World, the supervisory authority of the public prosecutor’s office of the Swiss Confederation (AS-MPC) served in a letter dated 1is July, to doctor of law Stefan Keller, president of the Supreme Court and the administrative court of the canton of Obwalden (Switzerland), his appointment as extraordinary prosecutor. AS-MPC formalized this designation on Friday, July 3.
Stefan Keller is to examine four complaints filed since May in this case. At the end of his investigation, the magistrate will determine if the suspicions are sufficient to justify the opening of criminal proceedings against Mr. Lauber, Mr. Infantino and his childhood friend, the first prosecutor of Haut-Valais Rinaldo Arnold, who played an intermediary role during two informal meetings. AS-MPC indicates that if Stefan Keller “Reaches the conclusion that there are indications that the Attorney General of the Confederation, Michael Lauber, is guilty of punishable acts, he will file a request for the opening of criminal proceedings with the competent committees” of the Swiss Parliament.
Four complaints will be investigated
After the filing of a first anonymous complaint, on May 11, for “Offenses of incitement to abuse of power, breach of professional secrecy and favoritism”, M. Lauber and “The management of FIFA” were targeted, two days later, by a criminal denunciation transmitted by the Swiss lawyer Philippe Renz to the Bern prosecutor’s office. Then, Me Hans-Jörg Metz, the lawyer for the former president of the German federation Theo Zwanziger, has filed a complaint against Mr. Infantino, Mr. Lauber and several Swiss magistrates.
Finally, on June 15, it was a member of the canton of Valais, Gilbert Truffer, who laid a criminal information against Mr. Arnold for “Incitement to breach professional secrecy”. All of the complaints were forwarded to the services of the Swiss Federal Assembly. Which asked the AS-MPC to appoint an extraordinary prosecutor.
The appointment of Stefan Keller comes at a time when the Judicial Committee of the Federal Assembly initiated a dismissal procedure against Mr. Lauber on May 20. In March, the latter was convicted by the supervisory authority of the Swiss public prosecutor’s office. « for having violated several duties of office ” by meeting informally and three times with the President of FIFA (civil party in the ongoing proceedings).
“The FIFA President certainly did nothing wrong by meeting with Lauber, Emilio Garcia, FIFA’s legal director, said in a statement in June. Meeting with the federal prosecutor is not an offense, and such meetings are not unusual. Gianni Infantino’s motivation was to offer the Swiss authorities all possible help so that those who stole millions from FIFA and discredited it were brought to justice. “
