Swiss attorney general offers to resign in FIFA case fallout

Michael Lauber offers his resignation to the parliamentary judicial commission ahead of the publication of a federal court ruling.

The internal disciplinary case against Michael Lauber (in picture) included a meeting he had with Gianni Infantino in June, 2017.

Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber offered to resign on Friday in the latest fallout from meetings he had with FIFA president Gianni Infantino during a sprawling investigation into football corruption.

Lauber offered his resignation to the parliamentary judicial commission ahead of the publication of a federal court ruling in his appeal against being disciplined in March for misconduct.

Lauber said he continued to dispute the allegation that he lied. “However, the fact that I am not believed as the attorney general is detrimental to the federal prosecution office,” he said in a statement.

The internal disciplinary case against Lauber included a meeting he had with Infantino in June 2017 at a hotel in Bern at which the prosecutor took no notes. Lauber and Infantino both later said they could not recall what was discussed.

Lauber had previously acknowledged two undeclared meetings he had in 2016 with the recently elected Infantino when they were reported in the Football Leaks series of confidential documents in November 2018. In 2018, Lauber called a news conference and said the first two meetings with Infantino were justifiable exchanges with FIFA’s new leader about long-running investigations affecting the football body.

In March, a federal oversight panel deducted 8 percent of Lauber’s near-USD 300,000 yearly salary.