Gianni Infantino: Criminal case against Fifa president dropped

Prosecutors have closed a criminal case against Gianni Infantino – a decision the Fifa president called a “victory” for him and the organisation.

Proceedings were opened against Infantino in July 2020 over an alleged secret meeting with Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber.

Swiss prosecutors confirmed on Thursday their investigations “invalidated” suspicions against Infantino.

Infantino said the allegations were made to “attack his reputation”.

“This is a full and clear victory for me, for the new Fifa and for justice,” Infantino added in a Fifa statement.

“It is now clear that the accusations against me were mere attempts by poor, envious and corrupt people to attack my reputation. If these people have some dignity left, they should at least have the decency and apologise for their actions and the damage caused.

“Indeed and with no surprise, the investigation fully and clearly confirms that I have always acted in a lawful and correct way, always defending exclusively the interests of Fifa and football.”

Proceedings against Infantino were opened on suspicions of secrecy violations, abuse of office and aiding and abetting related to meetings he held with Lauber.

Prosecutors said their investigations had found no evidence that Infantino had “instrumentalised” the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland “into unusual, inexplicable, erroneous or even criminal acts or omissions”.

Fifa said: “Now it is official: Fifa President Gianni Infantino has always acted absolutely correctly and lawfully in his relations with the Swiss public prosecutors who were investigating the ‘old Fifa’.

“The new Fifa is today a clean, well run and robust organisation which operates in accordance with the highest ethical and governance standards.”

Prosecutor Stefan Keller, who was appointed in June 2020 to review criminal complaints against Infantino and Lauber, was removed from the case in May 2021 following a successful complaint from Fifa, which said he demonstrated “extreme bias”.

Federal prosecutors Hans Maurer and Ulrich Weder took the case on and Fifa said on Thursday it took note of their decision to “dismiss and definitively” close proceedings against Infantino.

“The outcome of this investigation is obviously entirely unsurprising. The only surprising element is only the long time taken to reach such an obvious conclusion,” Fifa’s statement added.

Infantino was cleared of violating Fifa’s regulations after a preliminary investigation by the world governing body’s ethics committee in August 2020.

In 2015, US prosecutors charged several top Fifa executives with corruption following a major inquiry by the FBI.

Former Fifa president Sepp Blatter and vice-president Michel Platini were later found guilty of ethics breaches over a 2m Swiss franc (£1.3m) “disloyal payment”.

Both men were banned from the game and forced to leave their positions, ending Blatter’s 17-year spell in charge of the world governing body and Platini’s campaign to succeed his former mentor