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FIFA corruption scandal

FIFA Ethics Committee says no formal proceedings against President Infantino

A German daily Frankfurter reported earlier in the day citing a source close to the situation that FIFA Ethics Committee launched a preliminary investigation in regard to FIFA President Infantino

FIFA President Gianni Infantino EPA/JOSE MENDEZ

FIFA President Gianni Infantino

© EPA/JOSE MENDEZ

MOSCOW, June 29. /TASS/. World’s governing body of football FIFA denied on Wednesday German media allegations that the organization’s Ethics Committee launched a preliminary probe against its current President Gianni Infantino.

German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported earlier in the day citing a source close to the situation that FIFA Ethics Committee launched a preliminary investigation in regard to FIFA President Infantino, who allegedly used the organization’s financial means for personal purposes.

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“We would like to point out that there are no formal proceedings going on against Mr. Infantino,” Roman Geiser, a spokesman for the investigatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee, told TASS.

Former UEFA Secretary General Infantino, 46, was one of the five candidates running for the FIFA presidency and on February 26 at the Extraordinary Congress in Zurich he was voted in the second ballot by the organization’s member associations to take charge of the world’s governing body of football.

Born in Switzerland, the current FIFA president is fluent in French, Italian and German and also speaks English, Spanish and Arabic.

FIFA convened for its extraordinary Congress in February to elect the organization’s new president following a chain of high-profile corruption scandals, which engulfed the organization in 2015. Then-president of FIFA Sepp Blatter announced last year his plans to resign as soon as the voting takes place to elect a new candidate at the helm of FIFA.

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