The supervisory body of the Swiss Attorney General (AB-BA) has opened an investigation into how Michael Lauber handled investigations into allegations of corruption at FIFA. The AB-BA will examine whether ‘possible breaches of the Attorney General’s [Lauber’s] duties within the complex FIFA process should be resolved through disciplinary action’, it announced. It is understood that the investigation will focus on informal meetings held between Lauber and Gianni Infantino, FIFA’s President.

In November last year, the Swiss canton of Haut-Valais appointed a special prosecutor to investigate whether Rinaldo Arnold, Senior Prosecutor for Haut-Valais, had accepted a number of gifts from Infantino in return for arranging informal meetings between Infantino and Lauber. The Football Leaks project had earlier reported that Arnold had informally collected information for Infantino on investigations by the public prosecutor’s office (Bundesanwaltschaft) into corruption at FIFA.

Last week, it was reported that Infantino faced separate criminal charges due to a lawsuit filed by Theo Zwanziger, President of the German Football Association (DFB). It is understood that Infantino could face a further lawsuit from former FIFA President, Joesph Blatter.