May 26 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has flown himself into hot water yet again after newspaper reports disclosed that the FIFA supremo may have lied over the use of a private jet in April 2017.
Based on an internal e-mail, Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote that Infantino took a private jet for a six-figure sum on the basis of a fictitious meeting. In 2017, Infantino traveled to Surinam after a tour of South America and after his regular flight with Dutch carrier, KLM, was postponed for 24 hours due to technical problems. The FIFA president sought to return home another way.
Mattias Grafström, his trusted assistant, contacted Tomas Vesel, FIFA’s head of audit and compliance committee. Vessel replied: “This situation seems uncomfortable to me and demands an immediate response. Please be kind and give me more precise information on your agenda on site and in Europe the following days. ”
According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Grafström said that Infantino had to return to Switzerland because of a meeting scheduled for April 12, at 2 pm, in Nyon, with his UEFA counterpart, Aleksander Ceferin. That meeting was to be followed by another meeting in Geneva. However, Ceferin was in Armenia on April 12, according to both the UFEA website and the website of the Armenian FA.
In a statement, FIFA wrote that its president hadn’t breached any rules. The world federation said: “”FIFA has put in place rules which establish the framework for the potential use of private flights by any FIFA official. The overall costs of these private flights have decreased considerably since the new management joined FIFA in 2016. Commercial flights (including low cost) are the standard option and private flights are only used in case of need. ”
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunit at moc.l1734963577labto1734963577ofdlr1734963577owedi1734963577sni@o1734963577fni1734963577