Swiss arrest two more FIFA officials in corruption scandal

By Joshua Franklin and David Ingram

ZURICH/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Swiss police arrested two FIFA officials suspected of taking millions of dollars in bribes linked to football TV rights, widening a graft probe into world soccer’s governing body.

The unnamed officials were taken into custody pending extradition after pre-dawn raids on Thursday conducted at the behest of the U.S. Department of Justice.

“The high-ranking FIFA officials are alleged to have taken the money in return for selling marketing rights in connection with football tournaments in Latin America, as well as World Cup qualifying matches,” Switzerland’s Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) said.

The FOJ said it would release their names later on Thursday. FIFA’s ethics committee has routinely suspended officials swept up in the probe.

The New York Times identified targets of the investigation as Alfredo Hawit of Honduras, acting president of CONCACAF, and Juan Angel Napout of Paraguay, the head of CONMEBOL.

The two men, their representatives and their federations were not immediately available for comment. FIFA declined to comment on the identity of those arrested.

CONCACAF administers soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean, while COBMEBOL handles South America. The past two CONCACAF heads before Hawit have been indicted by U.S. authorities.

“While we are profoundly disappointed by the allegations made by authorities that again, CONCACAF has been the victim of fraud, we remain committed to CONCACAF’s goal to develop, promote and manage the game of soccer,” Hawit had said when he took charge of the confederation in May.

The Times quoted law enforcement officials as saying that Sepp Blatter, FIFA’s longtime president, or Jerome Valcke, his suspended deputy, were not among those charged on Thursday.

Both have been suspended by an internal ethics watchdog, along with European soccer boss Michel Platini. None of them has been charged with a crime and all deny any wrongdoing.

The avalanche of corruption allegations involving FIFA prompted Blatter in June to say he would resign, only days after being re-elected to a fifth term. FIFA is to elect a successor in February.

PRE-DAWN ARRESTS

Swiss authorities said Thursday’s arrests were related to alleged offences agreed and prepared in the United States and involving payments processed by U.S. banks. The names of banks involved were not released.

Authorities have said for months they expected to level a second wave of corruption charges in soccer following U.S. charges in May against 14 officials and sports marketing executives with paying and taking bribes.

The New York Times said in the latest action authorities were targeting current and former senior soccer officials on charges that included racketeering, money laundering and fraud. The new charges were expected to hit South and Central American soccer leaders particularly hard, the paper said.

The Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich, the scene of dawn raids in May triggered by U.S. indictments, closed its gates after a group of four people, believed to be plainclothes police, went in around 6 a.m. (0500 GMT), a Reuters witness said.

Another group of police then went in through the rear entrance and left half an hour later. Shortly afterwards, two cars with tinted windows were seen leaving the hotel. Reporters could not see who was inside.

FIFA officials routinely use the luxury lakeside hotel and many are in Zurich for an executive committee meeting at which an internal FIFA reforms committee is to present its recommendations.

Leading FIFA sponsors Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, Adidas, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s Corp and Visa Inc on Tuesday published an open letter demanding independent oversight of the reform process.

“FIFA will continue to cooperate fully with the U.S. investigation as permitted by Swiss law, as well as with the investigation being led by the Swiss Office of the Attorney General,” FIFA said in response to the latest arrests.

U.S. Department of Justice officials were expected to discuss the case at a Washington news conference on Thursday, people familiar with the plans said.

LEADERSHIP CHANGES

Swiss and U.S. authorities are conducting parallel investigations of corruption in soccer, focusing on whether certain business contracts or the World Cup hosting rights for 2018 and 2022 were won with the help of bribery.

Wednesday marked five years since the Dec. 2, 2010, vote in which the FIFA executive committee awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cup finals hosting rights to Russia and Qatar.

The choice of Qatar, a small desert state where summer daytime temperatures rarely fall below 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), was especially contentious and went against the advice of FIFA’s own technical committee.

The leaderships of several South American national soccer organizations have been upended. Last week, Marco Polo Del Nero, the head of the Brazilian Football Confederation, resigned his post on FIFA’s executive committee amid criticism of his leadership. FIFA’s ethics committee opened formal proceedings against him on Nov. 23.

Also last month, the president of the Colombian Football Federation, Luis Bedoya, resigned unexpectedly as a government source said Bedoya had flown to New York. The president of Chile’s ANFP national football association, Sergio Jadue, resigned his post and went to the United States to talk to the FBI, Chilean media reported.

($1 = 1.0234 Swiss francs)

(Additional reporting by Michael Shields and Brian Homewood in Zurich, Mark Hosenball in Washington, Mica Rosenberg and David Ingram in New York and Brett Wolf in St. Louis; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Jon Boyle)