2 FIFA VPs arrested as scandal deepens
Print Edition
FIFA vice presidents Juan Angel Napout and Alfredo Hawit were arrested yesterday as part of the US Department of Justice’s widening bribery case that has rocked soccer’s scandal-hit governing body.
Both men have opposed their extradition to the United States at Zurich police hearings, Switzerland’s justice ministry said in a statement.
Hours earlier, Swiss police made pre-dawn raids at the luxury Baur au Lac hotel in downtown Zurich, the same place where arrests on May 27 sparked the FIFA corruption crisis.
“According to the US arrest requests, they are suspected of accepting bribes of millions of dollars,” the justice ministry said. “Some of the offenses were agreed and prepared in the USA. Payments were also processed via US banks.”
The bribes are linked to marketing rights for the Copa America — including the 2016 edition hosted in the US — and World Cup qualifying matches.
Napout, who is from Paraguay, is president of the South American confederation and Hawit, who is from Honduras, leads the North American regional body known as CONCACAF.
They are the third past or current presidents of each continental body to be indicted by the US justice department since May in a case that has shattered the reputations of soccer leaders in Latin America.
“CONCACAF continues to cooperate with all government authorities in their investigations to the fullest extent,” the Miami-based governing body said in a statement.
It is a further strike by the justice department at the heart of FIFA ahead of a key meeting of soccer’s international leaders.
The arrests were made ahead of a 9am FIFA executive committee meeting which approved wide-ranging reforms to help protect against corrupt officials.
The reforms are a response to the dual American and Swiss federal investigations of corruption implicating FIFA leaders and which forced President Sepp Blatter to announce his resignation plans in June.
“Events underscore the necessity to establish a complete program of reforms for FIFA today,” said interim FIFA President Issa Hayatou, who stepped in when Blatter was suspended from duty in a separate case of financial wrongdoing in October.
On May 27, the justice department named two more FIFA vice presidents — Napout and Hawit’s predecessors, Eugenio Figueredo and Jeffrey Webb, respectively — among 14 soccer and marketing officials indicted.
They were linked to bribes worth tens of millions of dollars for the Copa America and other regional tournaments in South and Central America. Four other men made guilty pleas.
The arrests follow increased activity in the FIFA bribery case in recent weeks, with South American bosses targeted.
FIFA executive committee member Luis Bedoya of Colombia resigned his position last month.
Colombian prosecutors said they are investigating financial transactions by Bedoya and requested information from US authorities.
Chilean soccer federation president Sergio Jadue resigned also last month and traveled to Miami, amid media reports he was cooperating with US investigators.
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