Just what new FIFA president Gianni Infantino needed.
A day after revelations that as UEFA’s lawyer a decade ago he signed off on a television deal between UEFA and an Argentinemarketing agency whose bosses, Hugo and Mariano Jinkis, were indicted by U.S. authorities last May, Swiss police raided UEFA offices as part of “ongoing criminal proceedings” launchedbecause of “suspicion of criminal mismanagement and … misappropriation.”
No impropriety has been suggested in the deal with Cross Trading over UEFA rights in Ecuador — one of dozens ofcontracts Infantino routinely reviewed — but the Swiss attorney general’s office stated. “The OAG’s criminal proceedings are in connection with the acquisition of television rights and are atpresent directed against persons unknown, meaning that for the time being, no specific individual is being targeted by these proceedings.”
Infantino said he welcomed any investigationinto the contract to clear things up.
“I welcome any investigation conducted into this matter. For the sake of transparency and clarity, it is essential that all elements of this dossierare disclosed, as UEFA has done,” he said in a FIFA statement. “Based on these documents, it is clear that all contractual matters were conducted properly by UEFA.”