By Tony Attwood
If you are a regular reader of Untold you will know that for some time we have been following the legal case running in Switzerland concerning Infantino, head of Fifa, and the Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber, and the allegations of a conspiracy between them.
Two things to note in this case: one is that the British media will not touch it (as has been the case of so many other issues concerning Fifa) and the other is that this story is all over the media in Europe – as it rightly should be.
So now it is up and running again, as Switzerland has just appointed two new extraordinary prosecutors. If you want to see our source on this it’s here, although it is in German.
If you have not come across any of this then you might want to start with
Anyway, the latest is that The Swiss Federal Assembly has appointed the two experienced magistrates Ulrich Weder and Hans Maurer to continue the criminal investigation against former Attorney General Michael Lauber and current Fifa boss Gianni Infantino.
The two men elected by the Federal Assembly in Switzerland are two former Zurich cantonal prosecutors, Ulrich Weder and Hans Maurer, by 189 and 188 votes respectively, so there is no challenging of their credentials.
The two men succeed Stefan Keller, who was appointed to this position in 2020 to lead the investigation against Switzerland’s own attorney general Michael Lauber who was accused of conspiring with Infantino. Lauber then resigned in the summer of 2020, and is suspected of abuse of authority, breach of official secrecy and obstruction of criminal proceedings in connection with his unrecorded meetings with Fifa President Gianni Infantino.
And the key to all this, as you may recall is that those meetings were indeed held without anyone else present and without notes being taken and published – against all the procedural rules of the Swiss legal system.
Stefan Keller, you may recall, had previously opened an investigation on 30 July, 2020 against Gianni Infantino. But Fifa putting every block in the way of progress, objecting on the grounds of his qualifications, and complaining to the Swiss Federal Criminal Court. In particular, the accusation was that of having behaved without respecting the basic legal standards.
At the beginning of May, the Complaints Court of the Federal Criminal Court found that the magistrate’s communications to the press justified his withdrawal from the investigation and so Stefan Keller then withdrew from the investigation. 1-0 to Fifa at that point, except that the Swiss have no intention of dropping the case. And it is hard to imagine anyone being able to cook up anything untoward against Ulrich Weder and Hans Maurer.
So Weder and Maurer will now have the difficult task of shining a light on the three secret meetings in 2016 and 2017 between Infantino and Michael Lauber. Also being prosecuted in this case is the head of communication of the MPC André Marty, as well as a childhood friend of the FIFA President, the prosecutor of Upper Valais Rinaldo Arnold.
Now you might remember our earlier piece in which we noted how the “village gang” of Infantino – and the fact that so many people involved with Infantino all come from the tiny area in which he was brought up. That in itself is quite a story. See Infantino and his village gang get his prosecutor thrown off the case! if you would like to catch up on that part of the tale.
But back to today: it should be noted that both of the elected officials are experienced judges. They have already served as extraordinary prosecutors in previous cases. They were approved by all parliamentary groups. It was the Judicial Commission that proposed these esteemed legal gentlemen, who, in its view, had “many practical and legal advantages for the efficient conduct of the proceedings”. The two men are at the same level of authority and have the same powers. In particular, they can collect all the evidence independently and, if necessary, order coercive measures.
It is in short about to take off once more. And once more the English papers are working hard to ensure that the English public haven’t got a clue what is going on – all to save the face of the FA for having its engagement with such a gang exposed.
You will be able to follow the story on Untold – although not in too many other English language sites. And I think it could get rather exciting.
The corruption files
- Platini and Blatter now prosecuted for fraud, but don’t tell the English
- Could Fifa really be stopped? Is the unthinkable now actually possible?
- Fifa, “Guilty As Charged.” This MUST be the turning point for Fifa and CAS
- IFAB vs PGMO vs Fifa… who is the most secret (and damaging) of them all?
- Another football scandal looms as law officers raid the German FA’s offices
- Infantino is one step closer to the edge of the cliff, but UK media is still silent
- Fifa in chaos as Infantino’s illegal meetings revealed and chief Swiss lawman resigns
- Swiss prosecutors demand prison for beIN & PSG president and ex-Fifa No 2.
