Infantino faces new ethics complaint

NEW YORK: A New York University law professor who resigned from a FIFA governance committee has filed an ethics complaint against the global football body's leadership, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
According to the newspaper, the complaint lodged by Joseph Weiler claims that FIFA president Gianni Infantino, Infantino's top deputy and other senior officials intervened in their committee's work in a bid to block scrutiny of senior football officials.
Contacted by AFP, FIFA declined to comment on the report, which came on the same day that Miguel Maduro, the former chairman of FIFA's governance committee, gave a devastating indictment before a British parliamentary committee of Infantino's commitment to reform.
Maduro said the FIFA leadership interfered with his committee's work, ignored rules and ultimately sacked him in order to maintain power, saying only "external pressure" would force the corruption-tainted organization to change.
Weiler and three other members of Maduro's committee resigned in May after Infantino fired Maduro, less than a year after he was appointed.
Weiler confirmed his own complaint in a telephone interview with the New York Times.
"It was filed in the last few days," Weiler said, adding that it covered many of the same claims Maduro made to the British parliamentary panel.
Maduro said he and Infantino clashed over Maduro's attempt to bar Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko to stand for a seat on FIFA's council, because it violated rules against governmental interference in football.
The former Portuguese government minister said that Infantino, who succeeded disgraced Sepp Blatter as FIFA boss in 2016, has opted "to survive politically" even if it means forsaking the effort to stamp out corruption.
Weiler said that all of the information he gathered that raised ethical red flags was "known by FIFA" and when he saw no action taken he formally informed the ethics committee.
"I want to believe the ethics committee will not remain indifferent to these issues and there will be serious investigations," he said, but like Maduro he sounded pessimistic.
"In light of my experience on the governance committee, I have very serious doubts about FIFA's ability to reform under its current leadership," Weiler said. — AFP