New FIFA czar welcomes investigations after European soccer HQ raid

April 6, 2016 6:55pm EDT Football, News, English, FIFA Following police raids Wednesday on UEFA's headquarters, Gianni Infantino says any investigation into alleged wrongdoing is welcome.
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Gianni Infantino (Getty Images)

FIFA president Gianni Infantino says he welcomes any investigation into Union of European Football Associations matters following raids conducted at the Nyon, Switzerland, headquarters of European soccer's governing body.

Widely released reports claimed documents within the so-called "Panama Papers" — which were leaked from law firm Mossack Fonseca to the international media — indicated that, during his time as UEFA's director of legal services, Infantino signed off on a deal to sell South American broadcasting rights for the Champions League, UEFA Cup and Super Cup to Cross Trading in 2006.

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The papers allegedly show Cross Trading to have sold the rights on at a significant mark-up to broadcaster Teleamazonas.

Neither Infantino nor UEFA is accused of wrongdoing over the reported rights agreement, but both moved to deny any suggestion of improper conduct through separate statements Tuesday.

UEFA confirmed it cooperated with a raid from Swiss Federal Police on Wednesday, which was conducted as part of the investigation into the allegations of impropriety, and stated it had provided documents to outline its operations.

Infantino, who was elected FIFA president in February, insists these documents prove that UEFA's conduct was above board.

"If my determination to restore football's reputation was already very strong, it is now even stronger," he said in a statement.

"For the sake of transparency and clarity, it is essential that all elements of this dossier are disclosed, as UEFA has done."

Cross Trading is owned by Argentina's Hugo Jinkis and son Mariano, both of whom were i ndicted in a 2015 U.S. investigation into international soccer corruption.

Earlier this week, Uruguayan lawyer Juan Pedro Damiani resigned from FIFA after his name appeared in "Panama Papers" reports, according to the BBC .