A secret meeting between FIFA President Gianni Infantino and former Swiss federal prosecutor Michael Lauber in June 2017 was bugged by Qatari authorities, according to reports in the Swiss newspaper “NZZ am Sonntag”. The newspaper relies, among other things, on official documents available to the NZZ. The meeting took place in meeting room no. 3 of the Hotel Schweizerhof in Bern. Curiously, the hotel has belonged to the state of Qatar since 2009. The Qatar Embassy was on the same corridor in the same hotel.
Qatar had legitimate concerns about losing the World Cup
Qatar was worried about losing the 2022 World Cup again due to allegations of corruption and human rights violations, said Thomas Kistner, FIFA expert at the Süddeutsche Zeitung on Dlf. Since 2011, the US espionage company “Global Risk Advisors” is said to have been on the road as an agent on behalf of Qatar to shadow critics and opponents of the desert World Cup, who could have been dangerous for the host country.
“That would mean that Qatar would still have information that could be used to put pressure on Infantino and Lauber,” said Kistner.
Even if the World Cup in Qatar is now history, the case could still become a problem for Gianni Infantino. The SZ journalist reported that Infantino could be accused of trying to influence the judiciary in his own interests.
Blackmail material against Lauber and Infantino
The meeting is particularly explosive because both Lauber and Infantino later stated that they could no longer remember the meeting and the Swiss federal prosecutor, who has since been suspended, was also conducting various proceedings against FIFA officials at the same time. A recording of the meeting could have been used to blackmail Lauber. When the informal meetings between Lauber and Infantino later became known, Lauber was suspended in FIFA proceedings for bias.
But Infantino could also have been blackmailed by the small desert state in his capacity as FIFA President if criminal matters were discussed at the meeting with the federal prosecutor. As head of FIFA, the sports official had to make numerous decisions that were in Qatar’s interest.
To this day, two special prosecutors are still investigating Lauber and Infantino because of the meeting.