Bern (AFP)

A parliamentary committee decided on Wednesday to open a dismissal procedure against the attorney general of Switzerland, Michael Lauber, suspected of collusion with the president of Fifa, Gianni Infantino, after a series of informal meetings.

The Judicial Committee of the Federal Assembly, by 13 votes to 4, launched this procedure "due to a well-founded suspicion of serious violation of the duties of office either intentionally or by gross negligence", explained the president of the commission , the deputy (PLR, liberal-radical, right) Andrea Caroni, at a press conference held in Bern, seat of the Parliament.

If at the end of the procedure, the committee finds that the suspicions are confirmed, it will submit a proposal for dismissal to the Federal Assembly, which will have to decide. Otherwise, the procedure will be closed, the commission said in a statement.

The hearing behind closed doors, the proceedings of the parliamentary bodies being confidential, started at 1:30 p.m. and ended shortly after 3:30 p.m.

Lauber came out of the courtroom with his face closed and hurried out of the house, simply declaring "it went very well", before rushing into a vehicle, according to a photographer AFP on site.

- Three meetings with Infantino -

According to a report by the Supervisory Authority of the Public Prosecutor's Office (AS-MPC), the 54-year-old Swiss high judge in charge of the procedures related to the corruption scandals at the International Football Federation (Fifa) since March 2015, "violated several duties of office" by meeting, informally and three times, Mr. Infantino, in 2016 and 2017.

"On several occasions, Mr. Lauber did not speak the truth, acted unfairly, violated the Code of conduct of the MPC and obstructed the investigation of the AS-MPC", argued the authority monitoring.

In addition, according to AS-MPC, the Attorney General "does not see how his actions are problematic and shows a poor understanding of his profession".

Until then, Mr. Lauber was sanctioned with an 8% reduction in his salary, a sanction he challenged before the Federal Administrative Court.

Fifa has never denied the meetings between MM. Infantino and Lauber, explaining that they were intended to show that the international federation, which has the status of complainant in certain procedures, was "ready to collaborate with Swiss justice".

But the legal vagueness in which these meetings took place raises the question of a potential collusion between Fifa and the justice system.

In total, more than twenty procedures opened for five years in Switzerland have still not found an epilogue.

"The fundamental principles of the rule of law are thrown overboard," defended Mr. Lauber, in his appeal to the Administrative Court at the end of April, and revealed on Saturday by the Swiss newspapers of the Tamedia group.

The magistrate accuses the members of the judicial commission of having been "biased" and of demonstrating "a bias" against him. The reproaches of the AS-MPC are marked by "speculation, speculation and a constant disregard of all the real facts and extenuating circumstances", he estimated.

© 2020 AFP