A Swiss special prosecutor has launched a criminal case against FIFA president Gianni Infantino. This is in connection with an undocumented meeting in 2017 between Infantino and the Swiss attorney general as FIFA was being investigated.

Stefan Keller, the special prosecutor, discovered “elements that make up reprehensible behavior” in another investigation involving Infantino and Attorney General Michael Lauber. Possible infractions in the criminal case against the FIFA president include abuse of public office, breach of official secrecy, “assisting offenders” and “incitement to these acts”.

Lauber resigned after being disciplined in March for misconduct. Neither Infantino nor Lauber could remember what took place at that meeting, nor did Lauber take any notes on what happened. It was their third meeting in a 15-month period.

The FIFA president said in a statement: “As president of FIFA, it has been my aim from day one, and it remains my aim, to assist the authorities with investigating past wrongdoings at FIFA. FIFA officials have met with prosecutors in other jurisdictions across the world for exactly these purposes”.

FIFA also reiterated a previous statement the president had made on the matter back in June, where he quipped that the whole issue was “absurd”.