Fifa president Gianni Infantino is said to have intervened with the Swiss attorney general to drop an investigation, the Swiss daily La Tribune de Genève said on Monday .
The Public Prosecutor's Office of the Confederation (MPC) began to investigate in early 2016, shortly after his election as head of Fifa, about the award by Gianni Infantino of a television rights contract to an offshore company, while the leader was still the chief legal officer of UEFA.
According to the Tribune de Genève , "worried" about this investigation, Infantino had then written to his childhood friend, Rinaldo Arnold, who had become a prosecutor in Haut-Valais, the region of origin of the two men. "I will try to explain to the MPC that it is in my interest that everything be cleared up as soon as possible, that it be made clear that I have nothing to do with this matter," he wrote in an email quoted by the newspaper. Arnold, who had already helped organize a first meeting between Attorney General Michael Lauber and Infantino, replied: "What is important is the meeting in two weeks. If you want, I can accompany you again ”.
"Criminal Act"
The meeting took place on April 22, 2016, the newspaper said, adding that its content remains "mysterious" and that the MPC "refuses to talk about it". Questioned by AFP, the MPC declined to comment on the article in the Tribune de Genève .
Monday evening, in a statement, Fifa estimated that the content of the private email sent by Infantino to "a close friend" was "completely out of context with the sole objective of misleading the reader". The email was obtained by "hacking, which is illegal and a criminal offense," according to the proceeding. "Not only did Mr. Infantino have no reason to lie in the email, but the email never indicated that Mr. Infantino wanted to" clear his name, "" added Fifa.
A "lie", according to Fifa
The proceedings also explained that "certain media" reported at the time that Mr. Infantino was the subject of a "criminal investigation" in connection with "a very minor contract relating to television rights in Ecuador for UEFA competitions ”. For Fifa, "it was a clear and total lie, the sole purpose of which was to damage the reputation of Mr. Infantino". The international federation again explained that the meetings between Infantino and the public prosecutor's office were intended to show that the federation was "ready to collaborate with Swiss justice".
In November 2017, "after a 3rd informal meeting" between Infantino and Lauber, the MPC ended the investigation into the contract signed by Infantino at UEFA. The Tribune de Genève also reports repeated telephone contacts between Swiss prosecutors and FIFA lawyers. "Prosecutors apparently helped Fifa formulate its demands" as the complainant, reports the newspaper, an attitude which "seems incompatible with the duty of impartiality of the MPC".
According to a report by the Supervisory Authority of the Swiss Prosecutor's Office (AS-MPC) quoted in early March by the newspaper Le Monde and obtained by AFP, a relative of Infantino also sought to obtain confidential information relating to an investigation aimed at the body, in July 2015, seven months before the election of the leader to the presidency.
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