Also among the new defendants charged were the former president of Honduras and of that nation’s soccer federation, Rafael Callejas; the current president of the Brazilian soccer federation, or CBF, Marco Polo del Nero, who resigned from FIFA’s Executive Committee last week; and his predecessor as CBF chief, Ricardo Teixeira. They were among 14 soccer officials and businessmen wanted on charges of bribery, racketeering, and money laundering.
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Napout and Hawit are both in Switzerland where they are now fighting extradition to the United States, the Swiss justice ministry said earlier.
It says it will “fully co-operate” with separate U.S. and Swiss investigations.
A total of eight people had agreed to plead guilty since May, U.S. authorities said, pointing to progress in the investigation.
As a result of the Swiss investigation, Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini are now serving 90-day suspensions amid Federation Internationale de Football Association ethics investigations involving $2 million of Federation Internationale de Football Association money Blatter approved for Platini in 2011 as backdated salary.
Former Concacaf presidents Jack Moran, Jeffrey Webb – who has forfeited $6.7million – and Alfredo Hawit are among the individuals, along with three consecutive presidents of South America’s governing body. The arrests were made ahead of a 9 a.m. (0800 GMT) FIFA executive committee meeting which is scheduled to approve wide-ranging reforms to help protect against corrupt officials.
In 2011, Hayatou was accused in Parliament of receiving a $1.5m (£1m) bribe from Qatar 2022, and reprimanded by the International Olympic Committee for receiving 100,000 Francs, worth around £10,000, from FIFA’s disgraced former marketing partner ISL. Also pleading guilty were former Colombian federation president Luis Bedoya and former Chilean federation president Sergio Jadue. The football officials were charged with running schemes designedto solicit and receive more than $200 million in bribes and kickbacks to sell media and marketing rights for football tournaments and matches.
Eleven current and former members of FIFA’s executive committee have been charged in the investigation, which alleges hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal payments over the past quarter-century that involved the use of USA banks and meetings on American soil.
Modernizing changes supported Thursday include taking many decision-making powers from the executive panel, to be renamed the FIFA Council, with more men and women members. Federation Internationale de Football Association officials are convening in the city to vote on reforms to the scandal-hit organization.
Carrard told reporters that the panel had scrapped an idea for a 74-year age limit for senior officials, calling it “arbitrary”.
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They are the third past or current presidents of each continental body to be indicted by the DOJ in a case that has shattered the reputations of soccer leaders in the Americas.
