Swiss urged to extradite 7 jailed FIFA officials
Print Edition
The United States has asked Switzerland to extradite seven FIFA officials arrested in an investigation into a global bribery scandal at soccer’s governing body, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice said yesterday.
The move marks the start of a legal process expected to last several months during which the officials, who have been in jail since being detained on US arrest warrants in May, will either keep fighting extradition to the US or agree to go.
The arrests of the seven, including two then-members of FIFA’s executive committee, took place in a raid on a luxury Zurich hotel on May 27, two days before FIFA’s annual congress, pitching the organization into turmoil.
US prosecutors say their investigation — which is running parallel to a separate Swiss inquiry — exposes complex money laundering schemes, millions of dollars in untaxed incomes and tens of millions in offshore accounts held by FIFA officials.
The seven were among 14 people charged in cases involving more than US$150 million in bribes over a period of 24 years. Those being held in Switzerland include Jeffrey Webb, the former president of FIFA’s Americas confederation CONCACAF, and Eugenio Figueredo, who sat on the executive at the time of their arrest.
The FOJ said it would rule on the extradition requests within a few weeks, based on statutory hearings.
A Swiss lawyer for one of the seven defendants who have challenged their extradition said on condition that neither he nor his client be identified that he received a brief notification of the US request for extradition from Swiss judicial authorities, but had no details on its contents.
“It is an extradition request for trial (in the US). The trial will be the actual evidence proceedings.”
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