THE deepening crisis in FIFA seem to be getting messier by the day following the arrest of two vice presidents Juan Angel Napout and Alfredo Hawit on Thursday.
According to reports monitored on the internet, their arrest was part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s widening bribery case that has rocked soccer’s scandal-hit governing body.
Both men have opposed their extradition to the United States at Zurich police hearings, Switzerland’s justice ministry said in a statement.
Hours earlier, Swiss police made pre-dawn raids at the luxury Baur au Lac hotel in downtown Zurich, the same place where arrests on May 27 sparked the FIFA corruption crisis.
“According to the U.S. 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 U.S. banks.”
The bribes are linked to marketing rights for the Copa America — including the 2016 edition hosted in the United States — and World Cup qualifying matches.
Napout, who is from Paraguay, is president of the South American confederation and Hawit, who is from Honduras, leads the North American regional body known as CONCACAF.
They are the third past or current presidents of each continental body to be indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice since May in a case that has shattered the reputations of soccer leaders in Latin America.
