Swiss prosecutor: ‘Clear signs of criminal behaviour by Infantino’; Fifa: Report ‘malicious and defamatory’

Dr Stefan Keller: “There are clear indications of criminal behaviour on the part of the Fifa president…”

Fifa press office: “Fifa and the Fifa president are shocked by the statement issued today by ‘special prosecutor’ Stefan Keller. This statement is both malicious and defamatory in nature and demonstrates his extreme bias…”

The following is a press statement (translated from German to English) by Swiss special prosecutor Dr Stefan Keller on the conduct of Fifa president Gianni Infantino, and a response from the Fifa press office:

Photo: Fifa president Gianni Infantino listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on 28 August 2018.
(Copyright AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

(Keller was appointed on 29 June by the Supervisory Authority for the Office of the Attorney General to investigate ‘secret meetings between Infantino and then Switzerland Attorney General Michael Lauber’.)

The extraordinary public prosecutor of the federal government has completed the examination of the criminal charges against Fifa president Gianni Infantino for unfaithful business management in connection with the use of a private jet.

There are clear indications of criminal behaviour on the part of the Fifa president. The actual criminal proceedings, however, fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The supervisory authority of the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (AS-MPC) had assigned Stefan Keller, extraordinary federal prosecutor, to investigate various criminal accusations at meeting involving Gianni Infantino, in connection with the use of a private jet during a trip between Suriname and Switzerland.

Based on the investigations carried out, Stefan Keller is of the opinion that a criminal investigation must be opened for unfair management. It is not, however, within his jurisdiction to open such an investigation.

Photo: Switzerland Attorney General Michael Lauber tendered his resignation after facing a criminal probe for his undeclared meetings with Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

When he was elected to the post of extraordinary federal prosecutor on 24 September 2020, the Federal Assembly instructed Stefan Keller to investigate non-formal meetings between former Attorney General of the Confederation Michael Lauber, Fifa president Gianni Infantino and others.

Since on the flight of the private jet only Gianni Infantino and other private individuals were involved, but not the former federal prosecutor Michael Lauber, this state of affairs does not fall within the mandate of the Federal Assembly.

Stefan Keller therefore forwarded the results of his investigations to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, which will deal with the matter with its own resources.

In addition to the aforementioned mandate of the Federal Assembly as extraordinary federal prosecutor, Stefan Keller will examine further criminal charges on various matters on behalf of the AS-MPC.


Photo: Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

Fifa press office:

Fifa and the Fifa president are shocked by the statement issued today by ‘special prosecutor’ Stefan Keller. This statement is both malicious and defamatory in nature and demonstrates his extreme bias.

Now, many months into his investigation and having established precisely nothing problematic about these meetings with the former federal attorney general, as Fifa always predicted would be the case—and having not even asked to hear the Fifa president since his investigation was announced last July—the ‘special prosecutor’ has today issued an official ‘media release’ saying that the Fifa president should now be investigated for something else! 

Neither Fifa nor its president have ever been informed of these new spurious allegations and they are therefore unable to comment on them, which is probably the intention of the ‘special prosecutor’.

The method of ‘special prosecutor’ Stefan Keller to accuse and defame by publishing media releases without justification borders on character assassination and is rejected in the strongest possible terms by Fifa and its president.

Fifa and its president will obviously take all necessary legal steps and remedies to put an end to these baseless and ill-intentioned accusations.

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One comment

  1. Wired868, T&T football fans are interested in the reaction of at least three people to this news.

    How long do you think it will take you to contact the last two ex-presidents David John-Williams and William Wallace and Normalisation Committee head honcho Hadad?

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