March 9 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino was struck another legal blow in the criminal case against him in Switzerland with the Swiss Federal Criminal Court ruling he can’t have access to the investigation file into his case.
Infantino had appealed to the court to overturn a previous decision by the extraordinary Attorney General of the Confederation Stefan Keller denying him access to the file before his own hearing. To have been granted access to the file would have been highly unusual as it would have given him time and opportunity to prepare his responses.
A press release from the Swiss court said: “Among other things, Infantino demanded that Stefan Keller reveal what evidence he had already gathered and what evidence he still planned to collect. Infantino also wanted the taking of evidence to be repeated, and for his right to participate in the proceedings to be recognized. It was refused to him.”
FIFA, who have taken the position of backing their president in the face of the criminal investigation (usually FIFA does not involve itself in cases against individuals), have attacked Keller and his investigation aggressively with reports from Switzerland that he they have gone on the offensive over every point of procedure including the delaying of information requests.
The criminal proceedings relate to the informal conversations Infantino and his alleged intermediaries had with the former Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber.
The first of those meetings was between close Infantino associate Rinaldo Arnold and Lauber, and took place before Infantino became FIFA president. The subject of the meeting is unclear with rumours that the infamous Michel Platini €2 million payment by FIFA was raised. The meeting participants have said the meeting was about ‘general issues of Swiss law’.
It was Platini’s suspension from football while investigation of that payment was undertaken that cleared the way for Infantino to run in the election for the FIFA presidency as UEFA’s candidate.
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