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:
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.
Emric
Guest
the original name of the code was Association Football. Just as rugby which is commonly referred to as rugby was actually "Rugby Football". No one calls it Rugby Football simply just Rugby. The Term Soccer was invented by the schoolboys who played football, Soc comes from Association and school boys of the time were fond of putting ER on everything which is where the slang term for soccer came from or soc'er as it was first referred to. So you are right 99.999999% of the world call it football which was just another shortening of the name Association football
The artist formerly known as Punter
Guest
In my travels around the world & following the game, I have never heard anyone say 'Association football', 99% of people just call it football & 1% call it soccer.
The artist formerly known as Punter
Guest
I think this overshadows all sport hands down.
Emric
Guest
wrong the correct name is Association Football
Tony
Guest
2 things I loved about the announcement....... + the US Attorney General calling it soccer + overshadowing the State of Origin game last night
Justin Mahon
Guest
The beauty of this for Blatter is he never needed to be corrupt when others were prepared to be, He'll go for political reasons - not for corruption.
ken
Guest
FIFA, big business and the stock market, playhouses of the devil.
Justin Mahon
Guest
FFV, FFSC and down to the club level FC....
Barry
Guest
I think FIFA owe the USA tax which extends way back to 1994, I guess this starts the ball rolling to open up the can of worms, we will see what happens when they start gathering all the information!! NZer
The artist formerly known as Punter
Guest
There is nothing wrong with the word soccer. It's when used in this term that anyone gets upset, it's 'Soccer not Football'. However the correct name is Football as in FIFA, FFA, FA.
cm
Guest
What are you people on...
joe b
Guest
Finally, with the US driven cleansing of FIFA, there might be an acceptance that it is okay to refer to this football code as soccer...the common name given to the code in this country, Australia. Soccer isn't a dirty word, after all, it did originate in the birth place of Association Football.
Socrates
Guest
I wonder if this is enough for Frank Lowy to change his mind and vote for a prince instead of a king come election time, which will take place in the next 48 hours.
Batou
Guest
Do you people not read the actual article? As for the Saudis, I assume you are getting confused with Qatar which is a different country, albeit next door. You did get one thing right though, you definitely don't know much about it!
cm
Guest
Note the universal condemnation of the corruption. Fifa can't bury this and everyone is glad.
SM
Guest
Also note how Bin Hammam was dispatched.
SM
Guest
I hope I'm wrong too mate, but as corrupt as FIFA undoubtedly is, I'm just not convinced Blatter is in on the dodgy stuff himself. As I said, he may well 'oversee' corruption in as much as not doing anything about it, but it's not in his interests too. He, and the corrupt types beneath him would prefer the status quo as they keep their well paid jobs and Blatter retains a strong grip on the Presidency. Should any of these people dare challenge him, he's got this information over them.
c
Guest
haha that's what i do for the afl drugs debacle
c
Guest
he must be got there is no way he is not implicated
SM
Guest
I must say, people like you are rapidly turning me off the AFL. It's a shame as I grew up quite liking the sport.