KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: Gianni Infantino is finally off the hook over allegations concerning secret meetings he held with Switzerland’s then attorney-general before and just after he became president of world football federation FIFA.

Reports in the Swiss media have stated that prosecutor-led proceedings against Infantino and ex-law boss Michael Lauber have been abandoned.

Lauber, who had been under investigation over allegations of abuse of authority and violation of official secrets laws since his resignation in 2020, was quoted as saying: “I take note of this announcement. I am relieved.”

Under suspicion were a series of secret, and in some cases unminuted, meetings between July 2015 and June 2017 with Infantino and other legal representatives.

An internal prosecutors’ memo obtained by the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper said: “There is no evidence of criminal activity.”

Michel Platini, president of European football federation at the time, had always suspected that the meetings had concerned attempts to quash his likely bid to succeed long-serving Sepp Blatter as FIFA president.

The Frenchman was ultimately barred over a delayed payments scandal and Infantino, previously UEFA general secretary, was voted in as FIFA supremo in the spring of 2016.

FIFA own ethics department shut down its own inquiry in 2020.

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