The extraordinary attorneys general of Switzerland Jans Maurer and Ulrich Weder have definitively closed the investigations against the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, after his predecessor in the prosecutor’s office, Stefan Keller, was removed from his position in 2021, the organization confirmed today. .
The decision, announced by FIFA itself in a statement, was welcomed with “extreme satisfaction” by the Zurich-based football governing body, while in the words of Infantino it represents a “clear victory” not only for him, but also ” for the new FIFA and for justice”.
“It is clear that the accusations against me were attempts to attack my reputation by poor envious and corrupt people,” said the FIFA president.
“If these people have any dignity left, they should at least have the decency to apologize for their actions and the harm they have caused,” he added in the statement.
Today’s decision confirms the one already announced in May 2021 by the Swiss Federal Criminal Court, which challenged and removed from his position the then extraordinary attorney general Stefan Keller for violating the presumption of innocence with irregular procedures against Infantino.
Keller had initiated the criminal investigation against the FIFA president at the end of July 2020 in relation to a meeting he held in 2017 with the previous prosecutor, Michael Lauber, who was also investigating a corruption plot in football and presented his resigns days before.
According to Keller, there were indications that several crimes may have been committed, including abuse of power, violation of the secrecy of public officials, assistance to offenders and incitement to such acts.
