By Andrew Warshaw
April 28 – In a rare intervention indicative of its frustration verging on anger, FIFA has slammed the collapse of the 2006 World Cup fraud trial in Switzerland that allowed three prominent former German football supremos to escape a verdict.
April 29 – Conservative Swiss MP Lorenz Hess has filed a request for a dismissal procedure to be initiated against the nation’s attorney general Michael Lauber (pictured), who has come under severe pressure after the five-year statute of limitations in the 2006 World Cup fraud investigation expired on Monday.
April 29 – The seemingly on-off Swiss prosecution of Nasser Al-Khelaïfi (pictured), boss of beIN Media and president of Paris St Germain, has taken further twists this week with Swiss justice saying he will be tried in court in September. Al-Khelaïfi’s lawyers had already filed a request for the removal of ‘compromised’ federal prosecutors, as well as filing their own criminal complaint.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 28 – Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber is facing calls for his resignation amidst accusations that the entire Swiss criminal justice system has been undermined over the botched 2006 World Cup tax fraud investigation. The case briefly came to trial following a five-year investigation but has now controversially collapsed.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 28 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino is once again facing allegations of wrongdoing in his dealings with Switzerland’s under-fire attorney general Michael Lauber over a tv rights contract he handled when he worked as UEFA’s legal affairs director.
April 28 – Following a meeting of EU leaders and government ministers in charge of sport, SIGA chairman Franco Frattini and CEO Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros have written an Open Letter to the meeting participants encouraging them to ensure sports integrity is part of the package of support that the EU is planning to provide to member states.
April 24 – In a landmark ruling, nine former executives, players, and businessmen including five former directors of Osasuna and two ex-Real Betis players have been handed prison sentences after being found guilty of being involved in match-fixing – the first time ever that sporting corruption has led to jail terms in Spain.
April 24 – UEFA may be concentrating on how it grapples with the effects of Covid-19 but away from the pandemic, today marks the fifth anniversary of the organisation’s Foundation for Children, using football as a tool to aid vulnerable kids particularly in less-privileged parts of the world.
April 24 – UNESCO has partnered with the Sports Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA) to build a ”business case for sport integrity”.
April 23 – beIN Sports boss and Paris St Germain supremo Nasser al-Khelaifi has failed in a bid to have three prosecutors recused from a case against him in Switzerland that is part of a wider bribery investigation of FIFA.
April 22 – SIGA has updated its Universal Standards in preparation for the pilot phase of SIRVS, the rating and verification system that federations will be able to use to audit the governance integrity standards of their organisations.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 20 – Yet another significant twist has emerged over undocumented dealings between FIFA president Gianni Infantino and Switzerland’s judiciary authorities.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 17 – Former FIFA ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, removed three years ago by the FIFA Council led by Gianni Infantino, has added his voice to speculation over the motives of undocumented meetings between Infantino and Switzerland’s attorney general Michael Lauber.
April 17 – Former Nigerian international Dickson Etuhu (pictured), who played for a raft English teams including Manchester City, has been banned from football in Sweden, where he last competed, for five years for attempted match-fixing.
April 17 – The Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA) and Soccerex are launching a series of bespoke webinars for the sports industry on hot topics impacting the sector.