The result is a damning set of accusations against Latin America’s most powerful soccer officials, many of whom are serving top roles within Federation Internationale de Football Association.
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The others are Manuel Burga – former Peru FA president, Carlos Chavez – Bolivia football president, Luis Chiriboga – Ecuador football president, Marco Polo del Nero – Brazil football president, Eduardo Deluca – Conmebol general secretary, Jose Luis Meiszner – former Conmebol secretary general, Romer Osuna – Bolivia football audit and compliance committee chief and Ricardo Teixeira – former Brazil FA chief.
The 236-page superseding indictment was handed up by a grand jury in NY on November 25. Napout is the president of CONMEBOL, the South American confederation.
The FOJ will now ask the United States to submit a formal extradition request within 40 days.
Imagina said in a statement it was cooperating.
At a news conference in the capital, Tegucigalpa, Callejas said his lawyers were studying the accusations and considering what steps to take.
The former head of Panama’s federation, Ariel Alvarado, was among those charged, according to the indictment, as was Reynaldo Vasquez, former soccer federation president of El Salvador. The indictments listed 47 counts, together with bribery, fraud, & cash laundering, accusing soccer officers of using agency business selections to trade for private wealth. At least one person from every soccer nation in Conmebol has been indicted or pleaded guilty. Blatter also is under Swiss criminal proceedings.
Blatter and Platini were suspended in October, engulfed by the deepening corruption scandal.
Separately, Swiss officials have been investigating corruption allegations surrounding the next two football World Cups.
“I think (Blatter) is well aware of the nature of our charges”, Lynch said.
It was Hawilla who mastered the art of the soccer con, and others followed.
The New York Times, which broke the news of the fresh arrests, said Swiss authorities descended on the hotel at around 6:00 am (0500 GMT).
The Swiss Federal Office of Justice confirmed that Hawit, who is a Honduran citizen, and Napout, who comes from Paraguay, are both fighting being extradited to the States to face charges.
“Some of the offences were agreed and prepared in the USA. Payments were also processed via US banks”. Hawit also was charged with attempting to obstruct the grand jury investigation by attempting in July to corruptly influence testimony before the grand jury.
Cameroonian former athlete and sports executive, Issa Hayatou, was later appointed as acting chief until the February elections. According to the new indictment, competing agencies both bribed Concacaf officials trying to acquire the commercial rights then held by Soccer United Marketing in the aftermath of the fall of the Jack Warner-Chuck Blazer regime.
It is a further strike by the US Department of Justice at the heart of Federation Internationale de Football Association ahead of a key meeting of soccer’s global leaders.
“It was impressive to see all members without exception supporting and showing a determination to carry out this reform process”.
Early on Thursday morning, more or less the same thing transpired as a dozen more people were charged – some of them arrested at the Baur au Lac.
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“Fifa’s current leadership say a new package of reforms will transform them into a “modern, trusted and professional sports organisation”.
