Swiss special prosecutor team drops charges after more than three years of investigation
Gianni Infantino, FIFA President
Swiss prosecutors, who had been investigating suspicions of collusion
between FIFA President Gianni Infantino and high-ranking prosecutors, decided not to indict and closed the case.
According to Reuters and AFP, the Swiss special prosecutor’s team in
charge of this case issued a statement on the 26th (local time), saying, “The
criminal proceedings have been concluded,” and “We conducted a
comprehensive investigation, but no evidence was found to substantiate the suspicion.” .
Chairman Infantino, a former Swiss lawyer, was elected chairman in 2016
after former chairman Sepp Blatter resigned from his position due to a corruption scandal.
He met Swiss Prosecutor General Michael Lauber twice in 2016 alone,
immediately after the FIFA presidential election.The two met again in June 2017.
At the time, Prosecutor General Lauber was leading a wide-ranging
investigation into corruption cases involving FIFA and soccer officials around the world.
As suspicions arose that President Infantino attempted to influence the
investigation into alleged corruption by FIFA officials through a private
meeting with Prosecutor General Lauber, the Swiss judicial supervisory
authority appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the allegations in July 2020. .
The Swiss special prosecutor’s team conducted an investigation for over
three years to uncover the related suspicions, but found no evidence and dropped the indictment.
FIFA said in a statement that it was “surprised that it took so long to reach
a clear conclusion” and that it was “very satisfied with this decision.”
“It is a complete and clear victory for me, the new FIFA and justice,” Infantino said.
He added: “This investigation has fully and clearly confirmed that I have
always acted in a lawful and correct manner and have only defended the interests of FIFA and football.”
President Infantino won his third consecutive term this year and will lead FIFA for four more years until 2027. 19가이드03