AP, Miami :
FIFA President Gianni Infantino says he doesn’t know why the lead investigator into corruption within the organization was suspended from that role.
Infantino was a childhood friend of the prosecutor, Olivier Thormann. The FIFA president said he had no contact with Thormann that might have led to the suspension by the Swiss prosecutor’s office.
Infantino also said he didn’t think the suspension will jeopardize the investigation of soccer officials under criminal suspicion, including former FIFA President Sepp Blatter.
“Why would it?” Infantino said. He spoke Wednesday at a ceremony to mark the opening of CONCACAF’s new Miami office.
Blatter denies wrongdoing and has not been charged. Thormann, the subject of complaints filed in September, was recently suspended by the prosecutor’s office “to clarify the situation.”
The investigation started four years ago when FIFA filed a criminal complaint into suspected money laundering in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding contests. The case grew to include all FIFA business, working with American prosecutors who unsealed indictments and guilty pleas in May 2015.
Seven soccer officials, including two FIFA vice presidents, were arrested on the day of early-morning raids at a five-star hotel in Zurich. Swiss officials later opened criminal proceedings against Blatter for suspected mismanagement.
Thormann’s suspension came after Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger reported a possible conflict of interest between another Swiss prosecutor and Infantino.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino says he doesn’t know why the lead investigator into corruption within the organization was suspended from that role.
Infantino was a childhood friend of the prosecutor, Olivier Thormann. The FIFA president said he had no contact with Thormann that might have led to the suspension by the Swiss prosecutor’s office.
Infantino also said he didn’t think the suspension will jeopardize the investigation of soccer officials under criminal suspicion, including former FIFA President Sepp Blatter.
“Why would it?” Infantino said. He spoke Wednesday at a ceremony to mark the opening of CONCACAF’s new Miami office.
Blatter denies wrongdoing and has not been charged. Thormann, the subject of complaints filed in September, was recently suspended by the prosecutor’s office “to clarify the situation.”
The investigation started four years ago when FIFA filed a criminal complaint into suspected money laundering in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding contests. The case grew to include all FIFA business, working with American prosecutors who unsealed indictments and guilty pleas in May 2015.
Seven soccer officials, including two FIFA vice presidents, were arrested on the day of early-morning raids at a five-star hotel in Zurich. Swiss officials later opened criminal proceedings against Blatter for suspected mismanagement.
Thormann’s suspension came after Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger reported a possible conflict of interest between another Swiss prosecutor and Infantino.
