The shadow of Gianni Infantino in the background of the trial of Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter

Despite their mutual hatred, Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter have forged an alliance of circumstance against a common enemy: the current president of the International Football Federation (FIFA), Gianni Infantino, in office since February 2016.

The ears of the latter should whistle, from June 8 to 22, during the trial of the former French president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the former Swiss boss of FIFA, before the Tribunal. Swiss Federal Criminal Court (TPF) of Bellinzona, for “suspicions of fraud, unfair management, breach of trust and forgery in titles. »

The ambitions of the Frenchman, favorite in the race to succeed Mr. Blatter, were struck down by the prosecution’s investigations into an alleged unfair payment of 2 million Swiss francs (1.9 million euros) made to him, in February 2011, Sepp Blatter and who will be at the heart of the hearings.

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Anxious to “politicize” their trial, MM. Platini and Blatter should repeat at the bar what they have been saying for several years: according to them, Mr. Infantino, who was Mr. Platini’s general secretary at UEFA (2009-2016), would have maneuvered in the shadows and took advantage of the opening of the criminal investigation by the Public Prosecutor of the Swiss Confederation (MPC), in September 2015, to present his candidacy and seize the throne at FIFA, at the time promised to his ex-boss. The two men also put forward suspicions of collusion between FIFA, once Mr. Infantino at its head, and Swiss magistrates.

Mr. Platini filed a complaint, in November 2021, against Mr. Infantino for “active influence peddling” before the Paris prosecutor’s office.

Mr. Infantino “had an interest in finding out”

A document reinforced the suspicions of MM. Platini and Blatter on the alleged role of Mr. Infantino. In March 2020, the Swiss Public Prosecutor’s Supervisory Authority (AS-MPC) issued a disciplinary report on Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber, in charge of investigations into FIFA from 2015 to 2019. The rapporteurs were interested in a secret meeting organized on July 8, 2015 between the latter, his spokesperson André Marty and a childhood friend of Mr. Infantino, Rinaldo Arnold, prosecutor of Upper Valais.

Did Mr. Infantino know, several months before the official opening of the MPC investigation, that his boss would be worried about this payment of 2 million Swiss francs and could not return to the race for the succession of Mr Blatter?

AS-MPC considered that Mr. Arnold, who had previously been invited by Mr. Infantino for a match at Wembley and a Champions League draw, “committed to Mr. Infantino on a private basis”. She also considered that Mr. Infantino “was then considering a candidacy for the presidency of FIFA and had an interest in finding out whether the FIFA proceedings were not directed against him and were directed against two direct competitors for the presidency of FIFA”. Namely Mr. Blatter and Mr. Platini, who declared his candidacy for the presidency of FIFA on July 29, 2015. Did Mr. Infantino thus know, several months before the official opening of the MPC investigation , that his boss would be worried about this payment of 2 million Swiss francs and could never come back in the race to succeed Mr. Blatter? And did he play a double game until October 26, 2015, when he submitted his candidacy by presenting himself as the “ Plan B “, anxious to leave room for Mr. Platini when the latter would be “cleared”, in view of the February 2016 election?

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