FIFA has dismissed a report claiming that its ethics committee had opened an investigation into president Gianni Infantino before being removed last month.
Two of the ethic committee's chairmen - Cornel Borbely and Hans-Joachim Eckert - were expected to be given second four-year terms at FIFA's annual congress in Bahrain last month, but they were instead removed without warning.
The decision came despite the duo having made progress into bringing sanctions against football officials found guilty of bribery, fraud and other breaches of the world football governing body's ethics code.
The Guardian reported earlier this week that Infantino and his general secretary Fatma Samoura were under investigation for allegedly interfering in the recent Confederation of African Football presidential election as a way of getting revenge on long-term incumbent Issa Hayatou for his support of Sheikh Salman ahead of Infantino in the FIFA presidential race.
However, a FIFA spokesperson has claimed that Borbely's replacement "today...confirmed that all files have been handed over to her and that there are no open preliminary or investigation proceedings involving the FIFA president.
"It is in FIFA's interest that the work of the ethics committee is not disrupted by conjecture of any kind. Therefore, FIFA will refrain from commenting any further on baseless speculation and will instead concentrate on providing concrete information."
Borbely has already claimed that the decision to oust him was politically motivated.
Barney Corkhill
