FIFA President Gianni Infantino faces criminal proceedings in Switzerland

Swiss special prosecutor Stefan Keller announced Thursday he has opened criminal proceedings against FIFA President Gianni Infantino and former Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber.

The proceedings relate to an undisclosed June 2017 meeting between Infantino and Lauber, who at the time was investigating allegations of corruption at FIFA. A Swiss court concluded last week Lauber covered up the meeting and lied to his supervisors about it, prompting him to offer his resignation.

“This concerns abuse of public office, breach of official secrecy, assisting offenders and incitement to these acts,” Keller’s office said in a statement. Both Infantino and Lauber previously have denied wrongdoing.

The proceedings against Infantino, 50, raise the specter of another scandal hanging over FIFA. The original FIFA scandal, known in some circles as “FIFAgate,” broke in 2015 after the U.S. Justice Department indicted several world-soccer officials, leading to the downfall of former President Sepp Blatter, who reigned over the sport’s governing body between 1998 and 2015.

At: https://nesn.com/2020/07/gianni-infanto-fifa-president-faces-criminal-proceedings-in-switzerland/

FIFA President Gianni Infantino and former Argentine President Mauricio Macri, whom Infantino backed as head of FIFA’s educational foundation - but whose own legal troubles at home have put the appointment in doubt.

Infantino's previously undisclosed meeting with former Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber - amid a Swiss probe into alleged corruption at FIFA - has opened a new avenue of investigation into Infantino's use of his office.