By Andrew Warshaw
July 20 – The decision on whether to open a formal investigation into alleged ethics breaches by FIFA president Gianni Infantino has been delayed until the end of this week.
Infantino, reported to have been interrogated last Friday, denies any wrongdoing but has been accused of unlawful hiring and firing, using unauthorised private jets and inflating his expenses.
It was originally believed FIFA’s ethics committee would announce yesterday whether there is enough evidence to launch a formal inquiry which could potentially mean a temporary suspension of the man who took over from Sepp Blatter only five months ago.
But Insideworldfootball now understands nothing will be made public until Friday at the earliest.
Infantino has caused huge controversy over the way in which he set about securing his power base, hiring and firing staff and weakening the clout of FIFA’s independent bodies in the process. Most recently, the heads of the travel department and general secretariat suddenly left FIFA, allegedly after becoming whistleblowers.
If a formal investigation were to be opened then Infantino’s ability to continue as FIFA president would come under serious threat. Last year, when investigations were opened against Blatter and Michel Platini, both were provisionally suspended for 90 days.
Worse still perhaps, any investigation of Infantino would heap untold damage on FIFA just at the time when it is striving to regain credibility and put in place the much-touted reform process.
Quite how the organisation could survive another scandal, with no obvious experienced replacement to step in on an interim basis and the possibility of yet another presidential election down the road, is one massive question even though Infantino, via a statement issued by FIFA’s media department, “has made clear that he had acted appropriately and in accordance with FIFA’s code of ethics.”
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