July 16 – Swiss authorities have begun questioning a number of the officials facing extradition to the United States for their alleged roles in the money-laundering and racketeering scandal that has rocked FIFA, according to unconfirmed reports.
Reuters quotes unnamed legal sources as saying that former Brazilian FA president Jose Maria Marin is one of those being spoken to and that final decisions on their extradition is expected in August.
The Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) confirmed that hearings were underway but did not give further details.
FIFA was plunged into unprecedented chaos when 14 leading football and sports marketing were indicted in the United States in late May on bribery, money laundering and wire fraud charges. Seven of those accused were arrested by Swiss police in a dawn raid on their luxury Zurich hotel two days before the FIFA Congress that re-elected Sepp Blatter.
“Marin and others were questioned this week whether they would agree or not to a simplified extradition,” one Swiss legal source told Reuters. “The result is unknown.”
As well as Marin, the seven included FIFA vice-presidents Jeffrey Webb and Eugenio Figueredo plus Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas and Rafael Esquivel.
Webb, touted before the scandal erupted as a possible future FIFA president, has reportedly agreed already to be extradited while Figueredo has had a request for bail on health grounds rejected. The defendants are believed to be held in four different prisons.
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