The corruption scandal engulfing footballs governing body has widened, after a number of past or present FIFA officials were among 16 further people charged by US authorities on 3 December. The indictments, released by the US Department of Justice in Washington, came just hours after the arrests of two FIFA officials in dawn raids at a luxury hotel in Zurich.
Acting on a request from US authorities, Juan Angel Napout president of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) and Alfredo Hawit, president of the North, Central American and Caribbean ruling body (CONCACAF) were detained by Swiss federal police. The pair are in custody pending extradition to the US, which they contested at police hearings in Zurich, Switzerlands justice ministry said in a statement. According to the US arrest requests, they are suspected of accepting bribes of millions of dollars, the justice ministry said. Some of the offences were agreed and prepared in the USA. Payments were also processed via US banks.
The latest 92-count indictments against the 16 new defendants allege racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies with sustained abuse of [the defendants] positions for financial gain. One high-profile arrest includes former FIFA vice-president Ricardo Teixeira who was among those accused of partaking in criminal schemes involving well over $200m (£132m) in bribes and kickbacks. A total of 27 people have been charged since May. FIFA has said that it will fully cooperate.
In a scathing review of the situation, US attorney general Loretta Lynch said: The betrayal of trust set forth here is outrageous. She added: The scale of corruption alleged herein is unconscionable. And the message from this announcement should be clear to every culpable individual who remains in the shadows, hoping to evade our investigation: you will not wait us out. You will not escape our focus.
The charged executives include: Alfredo Hawitt, Ariel Alvarado, Rafael Callejas, Bryan Jimenez, Rafael Salguero, Hector Trujillo and Reynaldo Vasquez, Juan Angel Napout, Manuel Burga, Carlos Chavez, Luis Chiriboga, Marco Polo del Negro, Eduardo Deluca, Jose Luis Meiszner, Romer Osuna and Ricardo Teixeira.
