Governing Bodies

HOME TROUBLE FOR INFANTINO AS FIFA BOSS FACES SWISS CRIMINAL CASE

Published

5 years ago

July 31, 2020

Criminal proceedings have been opened against FIFA president Gianni Infantino by a special prosecutor looking into dealings between the head of the global football body and Swiss Attorney-General Michael Lauber, Swiss authorities said yesterday.

A special prosecutor appointed last month to review complaints against the two men and others had found indications of criminal conduct related to their meetings, according to the watchdog overseeing the Attorney-General’s Office.

“This concerns abuse of public office, breach of official secrecy, assisting offenders and incitement to these acts,” the AB-BA watchdog said in a statement.

Infantino, 50, and Lauber, 54, are said to have held a series of secret meetings in 2016 and 2017. Both of them have denied wrongdoing.

FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It said last week in a statement that the meetings were legitimate and legal.

Infantino was elected in 2016 to replace disgraced Sepp Blatter, who was also the subject of criminal proceedings in 2015.

Yet the Swiss-Italian lawyer could be the second Fifa president to be banned from the sport after Blatter, who is currently serving a six-year ban from all football-related activities.

The investigations against Swiss Blatter, who is suspected of criminal mismanagement, are still ongoing and he has not been charged. He denies wrongdoing.

On being elected, Infantino promised to clean up FIFA and to put the focus back on football.

FIFA was embroiled in the worst corruption scandal in its history in 2015 which led to several officials being charged in the United States with related offences.

Lauber was in charge of Switzerland’s probe into the scandal that erupted when Swiss police in May that year raided a luxury hotel in Zurich before dawn.

Lauber last week offered to resign after a court concluded he had covered up a meeting with Infantino and lied to supervisors while his office investigated corruption surrounding football’s governing body. A federal court also said he had committed several breaches of his official duties.

Lauber officially tendered his resignation on Tuesday, his office said, with his last day of active duty set for Aug 31.

The AB-BA watchdog said special prosecutor Stefan Keller had now opened proceedings against both Infantino and a regional public prosecutor who was involved in the meetings, and was seeking parliamentary approval to have Lauber’s immunity from prosecution waived.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Governing Bodies

Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council

Published

14 hours ago

April 26, 2025

Kunle Solaja

Laurels on the courts and now glory in the boardroom sums up the mark that badminton is making in Nigeria.

The President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Francis Orbih, has been elected as a council member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).

The election took place during the BWF Annual General Meeting on Saturday in Xiamen, China.

Orbih emerged victorious over top contenders from other African countries.

He will join Cameroon’s Odette Assembe Engoulou on the council, while Chipo Zumburani (Zimbabwe) and Hadia ElSaid (Egypt) missed out.

An elated Orbih expressed his gratitude to fellow badminton presidents across the globe for their trust and support.

He said, “I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me by my peers across the badminton world.

“I look forward to quality representation, driving development initiatives, and strengthening badminton’s global reach over the next four years.”

Orbih also acknowledged the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly the National Sports Commission (NSC), which he said played a significant role in his successful bid.

“The Chairman and the Director General of the NSC monitored the entire process. I’m grateful for their involvement and confident Nigeria will benefit from this,” he stated.

He further appreciated the BFN board members and the Nigerian badminton community for their prayers and continued belief in his leadership.

“From the day I declared my intentions, the board members of BFN have been supportive, and I promise not to disappoint them,” Orbih concluded.

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Governing Bodies

Ex-FIFA Council member and Mali football chief released from jail

Published

3 days ago

April 23, 2025

Kunle Solaja

A former member of the FIFA Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption, Malian media reports said on Wednesday.

Toure, president of the Malian Football Federation since 2019, was released after 622 days in prison on Tuesday.

He served on the FIFA Council, world football’s all-powerful decision-making body, for four years until last month when he lost his seat after failing to contest new elections.

The 67-year-old was arrested in August 2023 on allegations of embezzling $28 million of public funds but was granted a provisional release order by the Malian courts, reports said.

He was accused of misconduct during his time as the National Assembly’s financial and administrative director from 2013-2019.

Toure denied all charges and, during his time in jail, was last August re-elected as Malian Football Federation president for a second consecutive term, with his supporters claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy fuelled by detractors.

While in jail, he received a letter of support from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. However, as of last month, Toure is no longer a member of the FIFA Council or the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee.

-Reuters

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Governing Bodies

Nigeria Football Federation denies owing late national captain and coach, Chukwu

Published

2 weeks ago

April 14, 2025

Kunle Solaja

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has denied reports of an outstanding debt to former captain Christian Chukwu and has challenged anyone with verifiable documents to prove otherwise.

Chukwu, a former national team captain and chief coach, died last Saturday.

The Nigeria Football Federation decried statements in a section of social media that the football-ruling body was indebted to the deceased.

Reacting to one statement on social media that claimed NFF owed the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team captain the sum of $128,000, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said: “There is no record in the NFF of any outstanding indebtedness to ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu.

“During the first term of the Board headed by Amaju Pinnick, a committee was set up to diligently peruse the papers of coaches who were being owed, even from previous NFF administrations.

“That committee was given the clear mandate to verify all debts and ensure that the coaches being owed were paid immediately. I am aware that the ‘Chairman’ was in the employ of the NFF between 2002 and 2005, before he was relieved of the post following the 1-1 draw with Angola in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Kano in August 2005. There is certainly no record of indebtedness to him in the NFF.”

Sanusi challenged anyone with genuine and verifiable documents of NFF indebtedness to any coach, who has worked with any of the National Teams over the past two decades, to come forward and tender those documents.

“As a credible organization that is very much alive to its responsibilities, if we are confronted with any genuine document of indebtedness to any coach, we will offset the debt immediately.”

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