The affair of the secret meetings between the President of the International Football Federation (FIFA), Gianni Infantino, and the former Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber is fast becoming a state scandal in Switzerland. According to information from the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, confirmed by several corroborating sources in World, the chief of information of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Confederation (MPC), André Marty, is targeted by the criminal proceedings opened, in July 2020, by the extraordinary prosecutor Stefan Keller for “abuse of authority”, “violation of secrecy of function ”,“ obstructing criminal proceedings ”and“ instigating these offenses ”.
This investigation also targets MM. Lauber and Infantino, who held three informal meetings in 2016 and 2017 without supporting minutes. A magistrate friend of Mr. Infantino, the prosecutor of Haut-Valais Rinaldo Arnold, is also in the crosshairs of justice.
Close to Mr. Lauber and on the front line on the media front since the opening, in 2015, of some twenty criminal proceedings in connection with FIFA, Mr. Marty is suspected of having organized several secret meetings in the presence by M. Infantino. He participated in two meetings, in March 2016, then in June 2017. Previously, he had been present during an informal meeting, in July 2015, with MM. Lauber and Arnold.
Contacted by The world, the MPC also confirms the resignation of Mr. Marty. He also indicates that his secretary general, Mario Curiger, will leave the prosecution, like Mr. Marty. ” in the coming months “. “The two departures are independent of each other and at their own request and are not exceptional”, adds the MPC, while specifying that, “In both cases, the desire for personal and professional development is understandable and must be respected. “
“Collective amnesia”
In a report, published in March 2020, the Swiss Prosecutor’s Office Supervisory Authority (AS-MPC) estimated that “FIFA procedures [ouvertes en mai 2015 par le MPC] have been mentioned “ during the July 2015 meeting, Mr. Arnold “Engaged in favor of Mr. Infantino on a private basis”.
This last “Was then considering a candidacy for the presidency of FIFA and had an interest in inquiring whether the FIFA procedures (…) were directed against Michel Platini and [l’ex-président de la FIFA] Sepp Blatter [tous deux actuellement poursuivis par le MPC], two direct competitors for the FIFA presidency ”.
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