By Paul Nicholson
July 16 – The first of the seven FIFA officials to be arrested in dawn raids in Zurich at the end of May left Switzerland yesterday for the US, according to a statement from the Swiss Federal Office of Justice.
The unnamed official, believed to be former CONCACAF president and FIFA vice president Jeffrey Webb, was handed over to a three-man US police escort in Zurich and accompanied on the flight to New York.
Meanwhile the remaining six FIFA officials remain in custody in Zurich having refused to waive their right to contest extradition to the US. The Swiss justice authorities are now conducting individual hearings with a decision on their extradition expected in August. They also have the right to appeal any decision made by the Swiss judiciary.
Webb, who will have landed in New York last night, will now be brought before a judge in the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn) where the charges were laid.
There is no timescale for the next stage except that it should happen soon. US guidelines are that this must be done “without unnecessary delay”.
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