Former FIFA Ethics Chair Comments on Infantino Case

(ATR) There are voices within FIFA that are in favor of allowing federation president Gianni Infantino to continue his work despite the criminal investigation against him, reports Swiss legal expert Mark Pieth.

He says the argument within FIFA is that the accusations are not directly related to soccer's governing body.

From 2011 to 2013, Pieth was chairman of an independent committee that was to reform FIFA. He points out that the Ethics Committee has the power to suspend Infantino for 90 days.

"The first thing we should definitely ask is whether Infantino can remain president at all," the professor from the University of Basel told the German national broadcaster Deutschlandfunk.

Infantino is being investigated for allegations including incitement to abuse of office, breach of official secrecy and favoritism. He denies any wrongdoing.

The important question is whether the accusations against Infantino are damaging to FIFA, or primarily only affect the equally accused public prosecutor Michael Lauber. The accusations against Infantino involve secret meetings with Lauber, the head of the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office. It was precisely this federal prosecutor who was supposed to investigate former FIFA officials. Lauber also denies wrongdoing.

According to Pieth, the question now arises for the FIFA Ethics Committee whether Infantino wanted to "cleanse" himself at the meetings with Lauber.

Pieth has no confidence in the work of the committee's chair, Maria Claudia Rojas: "The woman doesn't understand anything about the matter. The Swiss special investigator Stefan Keller is more dangerous for Infantino than the ethics committee of his association."

However, Rojas is dependent on Latin American football officials. They apparently no longer think much of Infantino at the moment. Therefore, in the event of a change of mood within FIFA towards Infantino, Rojas could be the instrument to remove the president from office, Pieth suspects.

In a press release it called "update on investigation" FIFA said on Sunday Infantino "will continue to fully assume his functions within FIFA and fulfill his duties and will continue to cooperate with the authorities in Switzerland and around the world".

The press release, in a question-and-answer format, also featured this opinion from FIFA: "There was and is absolutely no reason to open any investigation because nothing remotely criminal has happened and there is nothing at all to suggest any form of criminal wrongdoing."

Homepage photo: FIFA

Written by Heinz Peter Kreuzer

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