The International Olympic Committee (IOC) says its chief ethics and compliance officer is aware of allegations made against Gianni Infantino, after a sports management company called for the organisation to suspend the FIFA President over alleged breaches of the Olympic Charter.
Swiss sports management company Sport 7 reportedly lodged the complaint to the IOC regarding Infantino.
Swiss lawyer and Sport 7 principal partner Philippe Renz wrote to the IOC to request Infantino’s suspension.
Renz argues that, in particular, “the management of FIFA and its President are violating a whole host of provisions protecting sport, its integrity and that of the athletes” regarding transfer regulations.
The IOC confirmed it was aware of the complaint.
“The IOC Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer is aware of the allegations, but cannot make any further comments at this stage,” the IOC said in a statement.
Renz called for the IOC to “immediately open an investigation […] with a view to his exclusion from the IOC, and that it suspend him provisionally in the meantime, as Articles 3.8 and 59 of the Olympic Charter provide for the possibility,” according to French newspaper Le Monde.
“This file is a real crash test for the IOC
“Either it takes its responsibilities to ensure that FIFA also respects the principles of governance that it imposes on other international sports federations, or it fails, and then, it is the Swiss law of the association, which is far too incomplete, which will have to be thoroughly revised.”
FIFA reportedly declined to react immediately to the allegations.
Infantino, who is currently in quarantine after testing positive for coronavirus last week, became a member of the IOC in January.
He is currently the subject of a criminal investigation in Switzerland, with proceedings opened against the FIFA President in July over his relationship with Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber.
The case centres on undocumented meetings that Lauber and Infantino are alleged to have held in 2016 and 2017.
Infantino has insisted his innocence, saying the meetings “were in no way secret and most certainly not illegal”.
FIFA’s Ethics Commission has also cleared the organisation’s leader after opening and then closing an investigation. (Insidethegames)
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