After CAF president Ahmad Ahmad was arrested last year, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino has become the latest high-profile football official to have criminal proceedings opened against him.
Infantino, who replaced former FIFA president Sepp Blatter after the latter had criminal proceedings opened against him in 2015, is now also under investigation in his native Switzerland regarding dealings with Swiss attorney Michael Lauber.
"The Special Federal Public Prosecutor makes application to the competent parliamentary committees to grant the authority to conduct criminal proceedings against Attorney General Michael Lauber. At the same time, he commences criminal proceedings against FIFA President Gianni Infantino and the Chief Public Prosecutor of the Upper Valais, Rinaldo Arnold," a press statement by the Swiss government read.
"His original task was to examine four requests for criminal proceedings that had been received against Attorney General Michael Lauber, FIFA President Gianni Infantino and other individuals. Since then, further requests for criminal proceedings have been made.
"Stefan Keller has now completed his examination of two such requests. He has reached the conclusion that, in connection with the meetings between Attorney General Michael Lauber and the FIFA President Gianni Infantino and the Chief Public Prosecutor of the Upper Valais, there are indications of criminal conduct.
"This concerns abuse of public office (Article 312 of the Swiss Criminal Code), breach of official secrecy (Article 320 of the Swiss Criminal Code), assisting offenders (Article 305 of the Swiss Criminal Code) and incitement to these acts. Additional criminal acts and the commencement of further proceedings remain reserved.
"The presumption of innocence applies to Attorney General Michael Lauber, FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Chief Public Prosecutor Rinaldo Arnold. The Special Federal Public Prosecutor is independent in his activities. He is not available for comments to the media at the current stage of proceedings."
Lauber, who offered to resign from his position last week, allegedly covered up an undisclosed meeting with Infantino in June 2017. Now, his office is being investigated over corruption allegations surrounding the football governing body.
Both Infantino and Lauber have previously denied any wrongdoing and could be cleared of all accusations, similar to CAF chief Ahmad, who was arrested for questioning last year but later released.
