Two more FIFA VPs arrested over bribery

By JOE APU, with agency report
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.