The strong man of African football is the subject of a complaint in Switzerland

Le bon copain Gianni Infantino

The scale of the case, entrusted to the Friborg public prosecutor’s office, goes well beyond Swiss borders due to the profile and position of Véron Mosengo-Omba, a naturalized Swiss citizen. Secretary general of CAF, the latter is in the good books of a certain Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA. To understand the close ties that the two men maintain, we have to go back in time. In 1980, Véron Mosengo-Omba fled the Congo and the Mobutu dictatorship for Switzerland. He played for the Xamax reserve team in Neuchâtel, studied law at the University of Fribourg, where he met the current boss of world football. The two future leaders are finishing their studies at the International Center for the Study of Sport in Neuchâtel.

In an interview published in our columns at the start of the year, on the sidelines of the African Cup of Nations, our journalist Laurent Favre recalled the links uniting the two men: “When [l’Italo-valaisan] was elected president of FIFA in 2016, his friend followed him to Zurich. He was first appointed director of member associations for Africa (a position currently held by Valaisan Gelson Fernandes) then head of all FIFA member associations. In March 2016, shortly after the election as president of CAF of South African Patrice Motsepe, for whom Gianni Infantino led an intense campaign on the ground, Véron Mosengo-Omba was appointed secretary general of the African football body. based in Cairo.

Gotham City further informs that the general secretary of CAF is targeted by other accusations, relayed by the media Young Africapointing to governance problems within the Cairo-based body. An internal audit commission went so far as to request the suspension of the Congolo-Swiss at the end of last September, the latter having noted irregularities in the recruitment of an external consultant and attempts to influence her work. This same commission would still have “disapproved the financial statements of CAF as of June 30, 2023 and the report of the external auditor, citing the existence of an investigation into possible dysfunctions concerning FIFA subsidies”, further specifies Gotham City.

The Friborg floor in its little shoes

The tremors of this affair seem to embarrass the Friborg public prosecutor’s office, which tried to push the case further by asking the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Confederation (MPC) to resume the procedure on March 12, 2024. “The impact [des soupçons visant Véron Mosengo-Omba] would be all the more important for the reputation of the Confederation in view of the professional and academic career of the first name in Switzerland”, worries the Friborg body, which continues, cited by the TPF: “Suspicions as to the use, by the person concerned, of his banking relationship with bank C. to deposit the cash resulting from the offense of private corruption, would, in the event that they were confirmed, seriously damage the reputation of Switzerland in view of the major media trial that would ensue.

The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office refused the request of the Friborg public prosecutor’s office, which turned to the TPF to decide the question. The latter did not enter into the matter, judging that “additional acts of investigation prove necessary”.