Arrests in FIFA, Chapter 2: Six months after a first strike on suspicion of corruption, two vice presidents of the organization, the Paraguayan Juan Angel Napout and Honduran Alfredo Hawit Banegas, president of Conmebol and Concacaf, were arrested on Thursday in Zurich, a new replica of an earthquake that does not stop messing with the highest authority of world football.
AFP
Napout and Hawit opposed extradition after being arrested by the cantonal police of Zurich at the request of US, Swiss Justice reported.
Both declare Thursday before police Zurich on the facts in the order of US detention, the statement said.
"Those responsible for the FIFA are suspected of having accepted money in exchange for selling marketing rights related to the dissemination of Latin American championships and qualifying matches for the World Cup," explained the Swiss courts had in a previous statement that He said that "these people would have accepted bribes of several million."
The Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) Swiss will ask the United States submitted to it for a formal extradition request within 40 days scheduled for the extradition treaty in force between the two countries.
Affected individuals may apply at any time during the process be extradited under a simplified procedure, the FOJ accurate.
These new arrests coincide with an Executive Committee, opened on Wednesday in Zurich, in the same city where seven makers of world football were arrested on May 27 on suspicion of corruption and money laundering.
- FIFA offers cooperation -
The New York Times was the first to announce the arrests.
"FIFA will continue to cooperate fully with the US justice under Swiss law as well as in the framework of the investigation led by the Swiss prosecutor's office," said FIFA in a statement.
The Swiss police operation started at 06h00 (05h00 GMT) in hotel Baur au Lac, which had already been the theater of the first wave of arrests.
Ironically, the current Executive Committee should focus on the reforms planned by FIFA to provide credibility.
These new arrests also came a day after the fifth anniversary of the award of the World-2022 to Qatar. This allocation is at the center of investigations into suspected corruption.
On Tuesday, the main sponsors of the FIFA (Coca Cola, McDonald's, Visa, Adidas and AB Inbev) had put pressure calling for its reform process is supervised by an independent entity.
In total, 14 people (including 9 current or former members of FIFA) are in the indictment of American justice talking about 150 million dollars (132 million euros) in bribes and retrocomisiones since the 1990s .
In a separate process, on suspicion of "money laundering and unfair management" on the allocation of Global 2018 and 2022, the Swiss justice proceeded to records in the FIFA headquarters.
On June 2, a few days after his reelection to a fifth term, Joseph Blatter announced his resignation, but remained in office until the election of his successor on 26 February.
- Blatter in the eye of the hurricane -
In late September, Blatter was in the middle of a Swiss criminal justice process, through a contract with Jack Warner, former president of the Concacaf.
It also complains that the Swiss payment of 1.8 million euros to Michel Platini, UEFA president and candidate for the presidency of FIFA.
For this payment occurred in 2011, nine years after a work by Platini from 1999 to 2002, the two men were provisionally suspended by FIFA on October 8 to 90 days. Platini risks a life ban. The internal justice FIFA must decide in December.
Blatter's successor will be elected on 26 February. Six candidates are in the running: the Swiss Gianni Infantino, Bahrain Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, South Africa Tokyo Sexwale, Jordanian Prince Ali bin Al Hussein, the French Jerome Champagne and his compatriot Michel Platini, president of UEFA.
The FIFA Executive Committee adopted "unanimously" on Thursday a reform program which mainly includes a limitation of 12 years of the mandates of the president and members of the Executive Committee itself.
This reform program, which seeks to restore the credibility of the institution, must still be submitted to a vote of the 209 national federations during the extraordinary congress of the February 26.
Napout arrests and Hawit "show the need for reforms," the acting president of FIFA, the Cameroonian Issa Hayatou, who appeared at a news conference with Francois Carrard, Chairman of the Committee on Reforms of the body.
In sporting terms, the Executive Committee of the FIFA not finally arrived on Thursday a formal agreement for the extension of the 2026 World Cup from 32 to 40 teams and that point will be examined again at a future meeting.