Reports that revealed a series of meetings that brought FIFA President Jani Infantino with the Swiss Prosecutor General questioned the judiciary's use of football-related files and placed the FIFA in an unenviable position.
The Swiss newspaper "Tribune de Geneva" reported on Monday that Infantino intervened with the public prosecutor to drop the investigation against him, after he opened an investigation in the beginning of 2016, shortly after Infantino was elected to the presidency of FIFA, about the allegations that the latter granted TV broadcast rights contracts to an outside company During the time he was Secretary General of the European Union for the game (Wifa).
According to the newspaper, Infantino wrote to his childhood friend, Reynaldo Arnold, who became a prosecutor in Haute-Valais, the birthplace of the two men, that he was "concerned" about the investigation.
"I will try to explain to the Federal Prosecutor's Office that it is in my best interest to clarify everything as quickly as possible and it is clear that I have nothing to do with this issue," Infantino wrote in an email reported by the newspaper.
"The important thing now is for the meeting to be in two weeks. If you want, I can go with you again," said Arnold, who had already helped arrange the first meeting between Attorney General Michael Lauber and Infantino.
The newspaper noted that the meeting was already held on April 22, 2016, adding that its content remains "obscure" and that the Federal Prosecutor's Office "refuses to talk about the issue."
The Federal Prosecutor's Office refused to answer the question "France Presse" about the "Tribune de Geneva" article.
The International Federation did not deny the occurrence of meetings between Infantino and the Prosecutor, explaining that its purpose was to show that FIFA was "ready to cooperate with Swiss justice."
"This does not pose any problem in many countries, but in Switzerland it is yes," said the FIFA statement released on Monday evening.
However, the legal ambiguity in which these meetings took place raises questions about a possible collusion between FIFA and the judiciary. In early March, the Swiss Attorney-General for Uber was punished with a discount of his salary, after opening a disciplinary investigation against him for his informal meetings with Infantino.
The oversight body of the Office of the Prosecutor said that "Mr. Lauber did not tell the truth, acted unfairly, violated the Swiss prosecutor's rules of conduct and impeded the investigation."
French Michel Michel Platini, former president of WIFA who was a candidate for the presidency of FIFA before being suspended between 2015 and 2019 from engaging in all sports activities due to claims against him, welcomed the news, which has long claimed his innocence and questioned the integrity of the Swiss judiciary.
"What I have been saying for years now is here, that is, the collusion between the Swiss judiciary and the gang inside and outside FIFA made up of two teams: the first who wanted to exclude me from the FIFA presidential elections, and the second Who maneuvered to serve the current FIFA president, "Infantino.
Platini saw himself as the successor to the Swiss Joseph Blatter at the head of the International Federation, but Blatter's condemnation of "unfair administration suspicions and breach of trust" and his delay in paying two million Swiss francs to Platini led to the suspension of the Swiss and the fall of the former captain of the Duke.