Prosecutor urges case against FIFA president for private jet

By: Graham Dunbar, The Associated Press Posted: 8:12 AM CST Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020 Last Modified: 12:20 PM CST Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020

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GENEVA - A special prosecutor in Switzerland recommends a criminal investigation is opened against FIFA President Gianni Infantino for using a private jet in 2017.

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GENEVA - A special prosecutor in Switzerland recommends a criminal investigation is opened against FIFA President Gianni Infantino for using a private jet in 2017.

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This article was published 10/12/2020 (2087 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

GENEVA – A special prosecutor in Switzerland recommends a criminal investigation is opened against FIFA President Gianni Infantino for using a private jet in 2017.

Prosecutor Stefan Keller said in a statement on his website on Thursday he sent “the results of his investigations to the federal prosecution office which will deal with the matter with its own resources.”

Keller has no mandate to open his own criminal case.

FILE - In this Tuesday March 3, 2020 file photo, FIFA President Gianni Infantino addresses a meeting of European soccer leaders at the congress of the UEFA governing body in Amsterdam, Netherlands. A special prosecutor in Switzerland on Thursday Dec. 10, 2020, has recommended opening a criminal investigation against FIFA President Gianni Infantino for using a private jet in 2017. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

The Swiss federal prosecution office said in a statement it had yet to receive Keller’s documents, and confirmed it was “currently not conducting any criminal proceedings against FIFA President Gianni Infantino.”

The special prosecutor wants Infantino investigated for disloyal management over using a FIFA-booked private jet to fly to Geneva from Suriname. He had been visiting member federations in the Caribbean.

FIFA’s ethics committee closed its own examination in August after a formal complaint was filed about the flight.

Keller was appointed by Swiss lawmakers this year to examine complaints about contacts and meetings in 2016 and 2017 between Infantino and then-attorney general Michael Lauber.

Infantino has said their meetings were conducted to discuss the Swiss investigation into FIFA business that was opened before he was elected in February 2016.

Lauber was ousted in fallout from the allegations and misconduct in his dealings with the oversight office monitoring federal prosecutors.

Keller said on Thursday he cannot open a criminal case about the flight because his brief does not cover a matter that does not involve Lauber.

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