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Following early morning raids on on the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich, authorities in Switzerland have arrested a number of top FIFA officials in relation to a string of corruption charges.
It is being reported that six officials were detained in Zurich, with as many as fifteen taken into custody in other parts of the world.
The charges are believed to stem from investigations involving both the US tax authority and the FBI, that date back as far as the early 1990s.
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The likely intention of Swiss authorities is to extradite the officials to the United States to face the corruption charges.
The charges to be faced include money laundering and racketeering in connection to both broadcast deals and World Cup bids.
In the wake of the arrests, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) released the following statement:
By order of the Federal Office of Justice (FOJ), six soccer officials were arrested in Zurich today (Wednesday) and detained pending extradition. The US authorities suspect them of having received bribes totalling in the USD millions.
The six soccer functionaries were arrested today in Zurich by the Zurich Cantonal Police. The FOJ’s arrest warrants were issued further to a request by the US authorities.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York is investigating these individuals on suspicion of the acceptance of bribes and kick-backs between the early 1990s and the present day.
The bribery suspects – representatives of sports media and sports promotion firms – are alleged to have been involved in schemes to make payments to the soccer functionaries – delegates of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) and other functionaries of FIFA sub-organizations – totaling more than USD 100 million.
In return, it is believed that they received media, marketing, and sponsorship rights in connection with soccer tournaments in Latin America.
According to the US request, these crimes were agreed and prepared in the US, and payments were carried out via US banks.
Questioning of detainees
The Zurich Cantonal Police will question the detainees today on behalf of the FOJ regarding the US request for their arrest. A simplified procedure will apply for wanted persons who agree to their immediate extradition.The FOJ can immediately approve their extradition to the US and order its execution. However, if a wanted person opposes their extradition, the FOJ will invite the US to submit a formal extradition request within the deadline of 40 days specified in the bilateral extradition treaty.
Those suspected to be detained include: Eduardo Li (president of the Costa Rican football federation), Jeffrey Webb (a FIFA vice-president and president of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football), Eugenio Figueredo (Uruguayan Association football executive), José Maria Marin (a Brazilian politician and former President of the Brazilian Football Confederation), Jack Warner (former Vice president of FIFA and President of CONCACAF), Costas Takkas, Nicolás Leoz, Rafael Esquivel and Julio Rocha.
The arrests come as FIFA officials converged on Zurich in the days leading up to a vote deciding the future of the organisations presidency. Current FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, has been widely tipped to retain the position for a fifth consecutive term after 17 years at the helm.
Blatter was not one of the men arrested in the morning raids and a FIFA spokesperson has already come forward with a statement for the media ensuring that Blatter was “not involved at all”.
A FIFA official is hidden behind sheets while being escorted from the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich:
Hotel staff trying to use sheets to hide officials as they exit. pic.twitter.com/o0VFKuFnQi
— Sam Borden (@SamBorden) May 27, 2015
Along with FIFA officials, the indictment is believed to include sports-marketing executives from both the United Stats and South America. They will be answering questions surrounding the exchange of up to $150 million in the form of bribes and kickbacks in relation to media deals for major tournaments.
The executives expected to be brought into custody are: Alejandro Burzaco, Aaron Davidson, Hugo Jinkis and Mariano Jinkis.
FIFA is expected to hold a press conference at 11:00am local time (7:00pm AEST) at its headquarters in Zurich.
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