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05th Apr 2016

Sepp Blatter’s replacement Gianni Infantino dragged into Panama Papers corruption scandal

Questions are being raised about the new Fifa president's time as Uefa's director of legal services.

Simon Lloyd

Gianni Infantino, the man only recently appointed as the new Fifa president, has reportedly been caught up in football’s corruption scandal, according to documents leaked in the Panama Papers investigation.

Infantino is believed to have signed off on a contract with two businessmen, who have since been accused of bribery, the documents reveal.

Father and son Hugo and Mariano Jinkis bought TV rights for Champions League football matches, only to immediately sell them on at a price of almost three times the amount they acquired them for.

The contract in question was signed by Infantino 10 years ago, when he was acting as a director at Uefa, football’s European governing body.

Uefa initially denied doing business with any of those indicted by the FBI in its recent high-profile investigation into corruption in world football.

The Guardian, who claim to have seen the files, adds that the emergence of the documents raises questions about the part played by Infantino in deals that were signed off when he was working as Uefa’s director of legal services.

We can all expect to hear much more about this story in the days ahead.