Switzerland has opened a criminal investigation targeting Fdration Internationale de Football Association's ex-secretary general Jerome Valcke, who was Sepp Blatter's right-hand man before he was fired from the organisation over corruption, Swiss prosecutors said today.

'As part of the ongoing series of cases relating to FIFA, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland is conducting criminal proceedings against the former FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke on suspicion of various acts of criminal mismanagement,' the Swiss attorney general's office said in a statement sent.

The OAG 'began investigations' including 'searches and interviews' in connection with the Valcke case on March 17, the statement said.