Lausanne (AFP)
Fifa president Gianni Infantino, who arrives at the head of the world body "by a skilful combination of circumstances", should "resign his mandate", considers his rival Michel Platini in an interview with the Swiss magazine L'Illustré published Wednesday.
Gianni Infantino and Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber "believe themselves untouchable and above the law", says the Frenchman, excluded from the race for the presidency of Fifa after being suspended by the international federation for a controversial payment received from the ex-boss of world football Sepp Blatter.
According to recent revelations, MM. Infantino and Lauber have had a series of informal meetings, a legal vagueness which raises the question of a potential collusion between Fifa and the justice system.
"I think Lauber is aware that he has crossed the red line. Infantino, I think should surrender his mandate", judge Michel Platini. "But the problem is that he became president of Fifa through a skillful combination of circumstances, as an opportunist, without having any particular legitimacy. He will therefore do everything to hold on to his position."
"The fact that I was the victim of a plot is obvious to me," said the former UEFA president, whose four-year suspension came to an end last October.
"In 2016, the presidency of Fifa should have returned to me by a very large majority, everyone knows," he says again. "It seems that Gianni Infantino skillfully combined, at the beginning of summer 2015, to ensure that I was excluded from the race for the presidency of Fifa, by agreements of circumstance passed behind the scenes."
This interview is published on the day when the judicial committee of the Swiss Federal Assembly has to decide on the opening of a dismissal procedure for the prosecutor Lauber, weakened by his informal meetings with Mr. Infantino.
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