Fifa arrests: Two 'high ranking' officials arrested for 'accepting bribes of millions of dollars'
The Swiss Federal Office of Justice has not named those arrested, although they have been described as 'high ranking'
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Your support makes all the difference.Fifa's corruption scandal has erupted again after two of the organisation's vice-presidents were arrested in a pre-dawn raid of the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich on suspicion "of accepting bribes of millions of dollars".
The luxury establishment used by Fifa officials was swooped upon for the second time this year, with Fifa vice-presidents Alfredo Hawit of Honduras and Juan Angel Napout of Paraguay detained on orders issued by the Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) on behalf of the US Department of Justice.
The FOJ confirmed the names of those arrested. More than 12 indictments are expected to be announced by the US Department of Justice.
Hawit was appointed interim president of CONCACAF, the confederation of countries from North and Central America and the Caribbean, after his predecessor Jeffrey Webb was arrested in a similar swoop in May. Napout is the president of CONMEBOL, the South American confederation. Fifa president Sepp Blatter was not arrested as part of the latest raid.
A statement from the FOJ said: "The two Fifa officials arrested in Zurich on the instructions of the Federal Office of Justice were today also given hearings by the Zurich cantonal police on the US arrest requests. They are opposing their extradition to the USA.
"According to the US arrest requests, they are suspected of accepting bribes of millions of dollars.
"They 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."
The Fifa corruption scandal first broke in May when seven officials, including Webb, were arrested by Swiss authorities on behalf of the US Department of Justice, plunging football's world governing body into the biggest meltdown in its scandal-hit history.
Napout and Hawit were unable to take part in the second day of a Fifa executive committee meeting scheduled for Thursday.
Brazil's Fifa ExCo member Fernando Sarney told Press Association Sport: "It was like someone had died, that was the atmosphere inside. Everybody was surprised, the feeling was like it's happening again, that it's something we think is personal. It was supposed to be a positive day today with the reforms and a lot changes, compliance, transparency.
"It was a feeling that this has happened to somebody who was sitting there yesterday with us. Everybody is sad and knows what it represents.
"The man from Honduras, I had not met him before yesterday, but with Napout it's very close as he's the president of CONMEBOL and Brazil is the biggest country."
Fifa acknowledged the latest controversy, saying in a statement: "Fifa became aware of the actions taken today by the US Department of Justice.
"Fifa will continue to co-operate fully with the US investigation as permitted by Swiss law, as well as with the investigation being led by the Swiss Office of the Attorney General.
"Fifa will have no further comment on today's developments."
The governing body's executive committee is currently midway through a two-day meeting.
A source with knowledge of the investigation told Press Association Sport the latest arrests follows evidence provided by Webb to US justice authorities.
In a separate development earlier this year, the Swiss attorney general also opened criminal proceedings over the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups and seized documents and electronic data from Fifa's headquarters.
The twin proceedings and the subsequent revelations over the next few days led to Sepp Blatter extraordinarily announcing on June 2 he would step down as Fifa president, just four days after he was re-elected for an unprecedented fifth term.
The final straw came when Fifa was forced to admit that it had paid 10million US dollars destined for the South Africa World Cup to an account controlled by the disgraced former vice-president Jack Warner.
Since then, Blatter has been provisionally suspended, pending an ethics committee hearing into a £1.3million payment made to UEFA president Michel Platini, with the pair facing possible lifetime bans.
PA
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