FIFA president Gianni Infantino could be compelled to answer questions over his ties to United States President Donald Trump or face criminal consequences after Democrats seized control of Congress in the midterm elections.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee confirmed on July 26 they had launched an investigation into what they described as a “sustained campaign” by FIFA and Infantino to curry favour with President Trump, requesting Infantino submit documents and appear before the Committee.
On Sept. 23 a spokeswoman for the Committee Democrats said Infantino and FIFA’s level of co-operation with the investigation had been “woefully inadequate.”
As the minority party on the Committee at the time, the Democrats did not have the power to subpoena Infantino, where a failure to appear would carry criminal consequences.
However, the Democrats’ midterms success could mean Infantino faces deeper scrutiny from the Committee in the months ahead.
The spokeswoman for the Committee Democrats said on Sept. 23 that staff had received a briefing on litigation relating to the FIFA bribery scandal but added: “FIFA has yet to turn over any priority documents requested by the committee — including those that would show how much money FIFA has given the Trump family — answer key questions around the awarding of the FIFA Peace Prize or explain how the Kushner-Infantino scheme to sell off the World Cup was conceived.”
Two days after the Committee’s investigation was launched, on July 28, The Times reported Infantino was developing a plan to sell stakes in a company, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), to private investors.
Later the same day, FIFA confirmed the proposal was that FFE should run the commercial interests of the World Cup and other FIFA competitions, and that the leader of the private investor group would be Thrive Capital. Thrive was founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
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– Infantino apologized, but reelection as FIFA president remains far from certain
The FFE plan was rejected by three continental confederations, including European football’s governing body UEFA, which threatened to boycott FIFA tournaments unless the plan was abandoned. Infantino announced the idea had been withdrawn on Aug.1.
UEFA nevertheless said it had “lost confidence” in Infantino over the affair and has pledged to identify a candidate to stand against him in next year’s FIFA presidential election, though nothing has been announced so far with two weeks to go until the deadline for candidacies to be submitted.
Infantino appears to have strong support for re-election in Africa, Asia, Oceania and South America.
Campaign group FairSquare has called on national associations to challenge Infantino’s eligibility to stand for a fourth term.
FIFA’s statutes say no person may serve as president for more than three terms, but on the eve of the 2022 World Cup final it was announced FIFA Council had taken the decision to discount Infantino’s first term between 2016 and 2019, leaving him free to run again in 2027.
